Uranus and Gaia
by Hector F123
Summary: I am the ultimate being, the creator of creation. I am the ultimate beauty, the ultimate knowledge, the ultimate power. I am perfection. I am Gaia!
1. I Am

Darkness. This is my first memory. Total darkness. Floating in nothingness. The moment I began to exist, nothing existed in the universe except myself and the complete vacuum, the complete blackness. I have no knowledge of what existed before me, assuming there was something. I have no knowledge of who or what created me. What I know is that, when my consciousness began, I was the only form of existence in the universe.

Almost the same moment that I began to exist, I realized that my mind is flooded with an ocean of knowledge, practically omniscience. Even though I was merely two seconds old, I was already able to speak any language you mortals can create. I was already aware of all technological advances you mortals shall ever make. And much more did I know already, concepts that it would be futile to try to explain to your imperfect minds.

One more thing I realized the first moment of my existence is that I possess omnipotence. What I just said is not some figure of speech; I mean it literally. Truly, there is absolutely no limit to what I am capable of. All I need to do is desire something, anything, and it is done.

After spending the first seconds of my life staring into the total darkness, I opened my mouth in order to declare my first action as a living thing: 'Let there be light.'

And so, it was done! Instantly, the blackness of the darkness was replaced by the whiteness of the light. Whiteness everywhere! Right after that, I deduced that light itself is useless unless there is something to shed itself on. Therefore, I knew what my next action had to be: 'Let there be creation.'

And so, there was creation. Instantly, I felt ground under my feet. I made a complete rotation around myself to examine the surroundings. I was in a dreamy location, which was covered with cool, light green grass. Here and there, I could see bushes, with leaves in various colors, or trees, either tall, with robust trunks, or short and slender. Deer and hares were leaping around. Squirrels were peeking out of tree hollows. Everything was under an azure firmament.

All that was left was to look at myself as well, to finally see what I am, what I look like. I looked down and examined my feet. My gaze rose towards my two wonderful legs… and, between them… the hairy cavity… my treasure, the treasure of fertility. As my gaze kept rising, I admired my masterpiecious body, my two crystally beautiful hands and, lastly, my two marvelous breasts.

I raised one arm and brought a lock of hair before my eyes. Red. I left go of the lock and looked around once more. Not very far from where I was standing, there was a lake. I could go and look at my reflection there. But I had a better idea.

Merely with the power of my thoughts, I materialized a full length mirror right before me. (As I have already told you, due to my omniscience, I already knew all your inventions, mortals, and, due to my omnipotence, it is simple for me to materialize out of nothing anything I desire.) I approached the mirror and, after having one more look at my body, focused on my face. My fairytale visage included two hypnotically beautiful, blue eyes and was framed by long, red hair.

That was it, I finally knew what I am. I am the ultimate being, the creator of creation. I am the ultimate beauty, the ultimate knowledge, the ultimate power. I am perfection. I am Gaia!


	2. My Creation

The world I created is vast, maybe even infinite. In your ridiculous attempt to measure it, you mortals figuratively separated it into galaxies, galaxies into solar systems and solar systems into astronomical bodies. Among astronomical bodies, my planet is a gem of magnificence; I described its environment in the previous chapter. My planet is located in an area of the universe far from any solar system. It requires neither the light nor the heat of any sun. For approximately 60% of every 24 hour cycle, it is illuminated by its own light, the one I created during the first seconds of my life. A kind of luminous energy that does not stem from any sun; it exists merely because I want it to. The weather on my planet is always excellent, as the one that you mortals enjoy only the sweetest spring days; and it is always excellent just because I want it to.

On my planet, the planet of immortals, myself and my animals live. Just like me, these animals are ageless. They carefreely revel in the felicitous eternity of their existence near their creator and master.

Far from my planet, in some solar system, there is the planet of mortals. You inferior beings live there. In contrast to ours, to remain alive, your own, inferior bodies require certain functions, such as nutrition and breathing. At the same time, though, these functions lead to your death. The chemical reactions of the oxygen you receive with every breath, the metabolism of food for the production of the energy you need, all these processes are wearing out your bodies, aging you in a slow and sadistic manner, until you die. Isn't it funny? The substances you cannot live without are, at the same time, the ones that are slowly, so slowly that you do not even realize it, making you hideous, weak, killing you like the worst drug. You struggle everyday with countless of difficulties, such as hostile weather conditions, diseases and competition among species, in a merciless battle for survival, a pointless battle, since, sooner or later, you all turn into lifeless grass.

Perhaps all the above seems unfair to you and perhaps you ask why the reality I created is like that. And the answer I will give you is this: That was what I felt I wanted, without having any particular reason for wanting it; something inside me told me that was the way things must be. If you are not content with my explanation, I am sorry. Maybe, someday, I would visit your planet and reconsider your fate. That could wait, though. Those first hours of my life, my priority was to explore my own planet and revel in my existence.

So, after admiring my reflection in my full length mirror, I began the exploration of my star, walking with matchless grace in my movements. A few steps were sufficient to find out that the grassy landscape was not flat everywhere, but also included several hills so that it was never dull.

At some point, I noticed a deer grazing; just because us immortal creatures do not need to eat does not mean we cannot do it if we wish to. It had light brown fur, with dark brown spots, and long, complex, masterpieciously made horns. It raised its head and looked at me with its innocent, black eyes. Immediately, it recognized me as its master. It rubbed its nose against the cleavage between my upright breasts. I laughed, partly because it was tickling me and partly because I was in a good mood. 'Who's a cuddly pet?' I asked sweetly. I started stroking its head and it closed its eyes in pleasure.

Suddenly, I felt something hairy rubbing itself against my gorgeous legs. I lowered my gaze and saw a white rabbit. Its little eyes resembled two dark colored marbles. How funny it was! I crouched, cradled it in my arms and softly kissed its little head. 'Hello, my little one,' I said with a friendly smile.

The deer rubbed its nose against my shoulder to show me it wanted more strokes. I laughed. I released one arm, cradling the bunny with the other, and resumed caressing the deer. 'You all are my creation. I love you all equally,' I whispered to them tenderly.

At that moment, the sky got a little darker. No, it was not night time yet; as if night could ever fall by itself, against my almighty will! It was just a flock of birds passing above us. They had beaks and feathers in various, lively colors. Birds of such beauty can be found nowhere on your planet, mortals. And, even if they could be found, I doubt you would be able to classify them to certain species.

I decided to follow them. I gently placed the rabbit on the ground. 'I'll see you later, guys,' I whispered, smiling at the two non flying animals.

Next, thanks to my omnipotent will, my body rose from the ground and reached the height the birds were flying at. I began following the flock, flying next to them, sufficiently slow not to leave them behind; if I flew at maximum speed, I'd circle the planet in a fraction of a fraction of a second, without taking into consideration my ability to simply teleport to any spot of the universe I wish to.

I opened my arms, closed my eyes and smiled, enjoying the air bathing my body, while my fantastic, red mane was waving. The birds had not strayed at all; they did not fear me. Not only did they continue flying next to me, but also, past a point, they started surrounding me, making various formations around me. One moment, it looked like I was trapped in a sphere made of birds. The following moment, one would think that a multicolored, feathery cube shrouded me. Next, the birds split into two groups, one at each of my sides, and made two triangular formations. All the above were happening without any of us stopping flying. I let out a girlie cry of enthusiasm and made a rotation around myself (still without interrupting my flight). I was laughing. Actually, I had burst into laughter. For the first time in my (still a few minute long back then) life I was having such a good time.

At some point, I realized that the birds had started plunging. I looked down and saw that we had reached an enormous, wonderful, crystal lake. My flying friends were diving into the water, enjoying their bath.

I dove too. But, as opposed to the birds, I kept descending deeper… and deeper… and almost reached the floor. I was swimming with grace any female, mortal athlete would envy me for. With grace that would cause jealousy even to those creatures from your mythological stories, mortals, those which are half humans and half fish. I was not in haste to emerge to breath; I could remain underwater for as long as I wanted to.

A shoal of fish were carefreely grazing. They all were stunning. Each of them had a different combination of lively colors. There was no way you could find two individuals that looked alike in that shoal. As soon as they saw me, they quit grazing and started swimming around me. The rays of my planet's magic light were penetrating the water, reaching the floor and offering us a dazzling spectacle. The various, multicolored, aquatic plants were gracefully waving. Apart from water, on my immaculate, white skin, I could also feel some fish brushing past me.

I am certain that you mortals could never appreciate such a magical moment. To you, these amazing, aquatic creatures should never swim in the wild; they have to be your living ornaments in your bowls or aquariums. This is also the case for the colourful, flying creatures I had met before. They do not have the right to be crossing the sky; instead, they are forced to decorate your cages with themselves, living a life worse than death. Because such is your nature, humans. Selfish. Not only in what I mentioned above but also in every other aspect of your life, you show your selfishness and insensitivity. True, perhaps, as I said a few paragraphs ago, you can argue it is unfair that you are mortals and struggle with problems, but, that aside, you are… Well, I prefer not to use bad language.

In any case, at some moment, I reached the bank and emerged from the water, with an unbelievably sensual hair flip and drops of water scattering around me. I lay down ashore, with my legs crossed and my arms under my head. I was smiling with my eyes closed, basking in the rays of my planet's magic light, which were caressing every spot of my body.

Soon, I had got dry. My hair was back in its perfect condition, without having been affected by the water at all. I stood up. My flawless body was intact, with no grass or dirt stuck on me. I raised the works of art that my arms are and stretched, smiling with my eyes closed. I took a deep breath. Not that I need to breath to live, but still it is invigorating. I exhaled in pleasure, letting out a delicate whisper.

After all that flying and swimming, I decided to go on foot from there and search for something to eat. As it turned out, there was no need to go far. Soon, I came across a berry tree with fully developed, wide leaves and ripe, delectable fruit. There were both white and black berries. I started cutting off and eating, softly moaning in pleasure. Neither my hands nor my lips were stained in the slightest with the berries' juices. Soon, I realized that I could not reach many berries as long as I was on the ground. So, I raised my breathtakingly beautiful body and reached the center of the tree's foliage, where I had access to almost all of its fruit.

After eating as much as I wanted, I returned to the ground. Then, I saw a deer (same color as the previous one, but smaller sized and with no horns) staring at me with its cute, sad eyes. I instantly knew why. I approached and stroked it. 'Aww, you want berries too, my poor one?' I asked with a partly compassionate and partly playful expression. The adorable deer was apprehensively shaking its head, rubbing it against the arm I was stroking it with, as if it was trying to tell me I had guessed right. I laughed. I approached the berry tree. I tapped the trunk with the palm heel of my delicate, feminine, sensual yet inconceivably strong arm. That was enough to violently shake the tree, causing almost all its fruit to fall off. Immediately, the deer lowered its head and started devouring while swinging its tail like crazy. 'Bon appetit, my little one,' I called out, smiling.

It ignored me and, without raising its eyes, remained focused on its food. Even though that was not very kind of it, I found it cute and laughed, shaking my head negatively.

As I walked away, I turned around to look at my brown friend once more. Then, I noticed that the berry tree had already got loaded anew with ripe, shiny, delicious fruit. And there was no way those berries would ever rot. They would remain there until someone ate them.

I returned to the lake. After my meal, it was time to invigorate myself with a little water. I approached the bank. I got down on all fours, immersed my lips in the pristine water and drank to my heart's content.

To make a long story short, that was about how I spent the rest of the day as well: wandering, exploring, and entertaining myself. At some time, the light began fading and, eventually, night fell. I was idly walking under the starry sky, with my arms behind my back, trying to decide where I would rest. The ground in the location I was, was flat and the only kind of vegetation around there was grass. In other words, it was essentially a field. With the power of my will, I caused a piece of land (in your own metric system, mortals, it must have been around fifty square meters) to be elevated, thus creating an island on the ground. Right after that, my almighty will covered the aforementioned island with thick vegetation consisting of tall trees. 'This small jungle shall be my home,' I declared in a low voice.

I was aware I did not need a house, but I felt it would be nice to have my own place. Well, I am the almighty Gaia, the whole universe is my own place, since I created it, but still… Anyway, you get how I mean it. Right?

With an impressive leap, I got in the island's jungle. With my omnipotent will, I materialized a bed sized cloud before me. It was not gaseous, it was not like the clouds you are familiar with. It was made of a solid state material which was created by my omnipotence and you mortals will find nowhere in the supposedly complete periodic table of chemical elements you have compiled. That solid and soft cloud was more comfortable than any bed even the richest of you mortals can buy.

With a graceful leap, I carefreely fell on the bed, smiling with my eyes closed. And I stayed still, lying face down, hands under chin and one leg bent and placed on the other. Soon, I had fallen asleep.


	3. Your Solar System

On my heavenly planet, I lived in felicity, without ever feeling boredom. And how could I feel boredom when I could materialize anything I desired? Whenever I got tired of eating the fruit from my planet's trees, I had immediate access to anything edible you mortals can make. Whenever I got bored of running, flying, swimming and playing with my animal friends, I could have fun with anything you mortals entertain yourselves with: books, magazines, music, movies, video games. It did not matter that you humans did not exist yet; thanks to my practically bottomless powers, I could have any book you shall ever write, any movie, any video game, in a few words, anything your civilization shall ever produce. And don't tell me that any of you thinks that I, the almighty Gaia, needed electricity to make all those devices work.

One more thing I eventually came to realize was that my body is not just immortal and ageless; it is incorruptible and perfect in every way. Although I revel in the joys of both eating and drinking, I never needed to do the things that you mortals do when you go to the toilet. My hair and nails never grow; they are the perfect length and shall remain that length eternally. Also, my hair never gets greasy or anything like that; it is eternally in the perfect condition which mortal women devote hours of care to their own hair for. I never had hair on any part of my body other than the head and the treasure between my legs. I never get sick. I never get dirty. Even my soles remain spotless, no matter how much I walk.

And so, a long time went by without me leaving my planet at all. How much time exactly, I can't tell; when you are the supreme being and all your days are perfect, you have no reason to measure time. Anyway, by your own, human standards, it was a long time. Until the day came when I decided the time had come to visit your planet.

It was a morning like any other. I was lying on the cloud bed, which was incorruptible like my body. I sat up. I could teleport to your planet in an instant, mortals. But I preferred using teleportation only when it was necessary. If I teleported every time I wanted to go somewhere, I would start feeling lazy.

So, I stood up and, the next moment, my phantasmagorically beautiful body soared into the sky at lightning speed. Within a fraction of a second, I was already out of my planet's atmosphere, out of the range of the magically produced light bathing it, and I was flying in the starry, outer space, with my arms crossed on my splendid chest. I can't say I was travelling at maximum speed, I was not in haste to reach my destination, but, definitely, I was moving faster than light.

The spectacle of the vast space I was enjoying while flying was awesome beyond description. You should see for yourselves to appreciate it, but that is impossible for you, mortals. If you were there, you would die of asphyxiation or cosmic rays or the vacuum that would cause you to vomit blood. Besides, even if, by some means, you could survive, even if, by some magic means, you could fly at my own speed, you would still be unable to enjoy the fascinating spectacle of outer space; everything around you would be moving too fast for your imperfect eyes to even catch a glimpse of. In any case, what your scientists claim, mortals, that, if you travel at the speed of light, time is dilated and centuries pass in a moment, is not true; having moved at such a speed myself, I can assure you that is not the case.

I had crossed the borders of your solar system. I saw your sun. I looked directly at it, without my perfect eyes getting damaged at all. Then, I decided, before coming to your planet, to do something unscheduled. I started flying towards the sun, the burning ball with the crimson corona.

As I approached, I started discerning its fiery surface, the photosphere. From some areas of it, tongues of fire were popping up. In some other areas, I could see white, blinding flares (well, blinding for you, mortals; for me, for my own, superior eyes, nothing is blinding).

I had reached the sun's atmosphere, the chromosphere. Although I was still fairly far from the photosphere's flames, the temperature was so high that it would instantly melt you as if you were made of snow, mortals. The chromosphere's depth is, in your metric system, mortals, several hundreds of kilometers. But, as you must have realized by now, this was no problem for me. Soon, I reached the photosphere.

I carefreely dove into the fiery sea. I was descending deeper and deeper. I was surrounded by fire as a fish is surrounded by water. And don't think that, when I say fire, I mean anything like the kinds of fire you have seen on your planet, those that can be extinguished with plain water. No, the flames of the solar photosphere are nothing that laughable. The energy released from the solar star is beyond your imagination, beyond any calculations of your scientists, mortals. Even the ageless animals of my planet would instantly be incinerated by the solar flames. Myself, though, I was there, without any problem, disregarding the temperature, with my eyes open, looking at the fire that was surrounding me as ocean surrounds fish.

That moment, I realized my true magnificence. No other living thing in creation could be where I was at that moment without instantly dying. Not even the 'immortal' animals of my planet. Not even the 'immortal' offsprings I would later carry. (You will read about that in future chapters; back then, not even I knew yet that I would be pregnant someday.) I am the only living creature that can explore the sun. I am the only truly immortal creature. I am the ultimate being in every way; anything else is ridiculously insignificant compared to myself. I am the almighty Gaia.

I reached the bottom of the fiery sea, the sun's solid surface. It consisted of a metal alloy of both known and unknown to you mortals elements (I won't bother analyzing it), which the sun's temperature gave blue color to. I suppose you all know that, when a metal object becomes incandescent, it turns red. Well, for those who do not know, for a metal object to turn blue, it has to be heated to an infinitely higher temperature. I landed on the metal, solar ground, barely feeling a warmth under my soles. That was it, I had just become the first and only being that ever stepped on the sun.

I walked for a while, enjoying the indescribable spectacle of the fiery, solar storms. When I figured there was not much to do there and started feeling boredom, I abandoned the star and, without any more distractions, continued my journey to your own planet.

Soon, your blue, celestial body came into my range of vision. Without caring where I would land, I continued my rapid flight. As I approached, your planet seemed bigger and bigger. I entered your atmosphere, without my indestructible body catching fire from friction. At that phase, I had slowed down so that I would not cause great damage when I hit the planet, but still I was flying faster than any aircraft of yours, mortals. Although the most probable scenario was that I would hit a body of water, since those cover the greatest part of your star's surface, I happened to land on land. Without bothering slowing down any further, I let my unthinkably beautiful body collide with a plain, thus opening a wide and deep crater. I floated out of the crater right away, without even my hair having got messy. I softly touched the ground and began the exploration, with my arms crossed under my breasts, walking with fairytale grace. The half green plain was being sweetly showered with the sun's rays, which did not even represent one billionth of the energy of the star I had set foot on earlier. The ground was mostly flat, but there were also hills and mountains.

I was aware that, in contrast to my planet, here, I would not meet only mild animals that feed on lifeless grass. No, on the planet of mortals, things are much more ruthless. And indeed, soon, I came across a pride of saber toothed tigers which were obviously searching for prey. For those who do not know, sabertooths are ancestors of your own era's large felines, humans. They resemble the species of tigers you are familiar with, but they are larger and have no stripes. Also, their two front teeth protrude out of their mouth and look like sabers, hence the name.

As soon as they saw me, they halted and their eyes widened. I exchanged looks with them. They lowered their ears and heads. Of course! Animals are not stupid like you, humans; they recognize their superiors. I paced towards them, without them moving. I stroked the head of one of those wonderful, big sized carnivores. Right away, the whole pride approached and started rubbing themselves against me, thus asking for strokes. I laughed and started caressing all of them. 'Who's a cuddly kitty?' I said sweetly.

Smiling, I took a few steps back and, snapping my fingers, materialized next to us a small hill of roasted meat! A shapeless mass of delicious, well cooked, fragrant meat! (Actually, I did not have to snap my fingers; I only did that to look classy.) 'Here's a gift for you, guys,' I said to them, retaining my kind smile. The sabertooths gluttonously tucked into the fresh meat, purring like kittens. I carefreely laughed, moving a strand of hair away from my eyes. I turned around and left at superhuman speed; nowhere near my maximum speed, but still, if some mortal saw me at that moment, their imperfect eyes would catch, just for a fraction of a second, a glimpse of a shadow passing by.

Suddenly, something like a wall blocked my way. It was the leg of a dinosaur. Thanks to my supernatural reflexes, I gracefully stopped milimeters away from colliding with it. Not that, had we collided, I would have got hurt (you mortals, on the other hand, if you collided with something while moving at such a speed, in the best case, you would break all your bones); the poor animal is the one that would probably have got hurt. I took a few sensual steps backwards, in order to get a better view, and, with my arms crossed, examined the saurian titan. It was one of those herbivorous, quadrupedal dinosaurs that had a long neck and a head crest. The color of its skin was dark red along its back, lighter red on the flanks and almost white on the abdomen. It was eating the leaves of a towering tree, without having noticed my presence.

I raised my celestially beautiful body and hovered at the height the dinosaur's head was at. The colossal herbivore turned its head and looked at me. I laughed and, as if I was addressing a human, showed it my palms, making a 'calm down' gesture. 'Never mind, my little one. I'm just a passer by,' I said with a smile.

After looking indecisively at me for a while, the dinosaur finally decided to resume eating. Without landing, I turned around and flew back where I had left the sabertooths.

When I arrived there, I found out that things were different from before. It seemed that a giant, brown bear was claiming the hill of meat I had materialized for the felines. The two sides (bear and pride) were standing opposite each other, growling and exchanging threatening looks. It was obvious that, soon, a battle over the hill of meat would commence. A sabertooth by itself would stand no chance against a brown bear. But, when it comes to a whole pride of them, things are different. 'This will be interesting,' I thought.

I decided not to intervene. I smiled, crossed my arms across my sculpturally beautiful chest and kept hovering, waiting to watch the imminent conflict. I caught myself momentarily feeling bad about letting the creatures on the planet of mortals kill one another for survival. However, I did not have time to ponder this any further, for, the next moment, a fully developed tyrannosaurus rex came into view from behind a mountain. Its step shook the ground, freezing the blood of the mammals. It was unbelievable that it had managed to approach without the animals having noticed its presence until then. Or perhaps it had been sleeping behind the mountain and just woken up.

The carnivorous saurian opened its enormous mouth, revealing its deadly teeth, and roared. What a roar that was! It scared even me, although, logically, I was fully aware that I was not in the slightest danger. The sabertooths managed to run away, since the tyrannosaurus prioritized the bear. It lowered its head, seized the poor animal with its mouth, moved its head upwards and started chewing its poor prey to death. Later, when the bear was history and the tyrannosauruses jaws were covered in blood, the giant lizard decided to supplement its meal with the hill of roasted meat. Soon, the hill was history too.

My wondrously beautiful face clouded over. Not because the tyrannosaurus had killed the bear (such stuff is part of the circle of life), nor because it had stolen the gift I had given to the sabertooths, but because, after eating all that amount of food, it wanted more! Without having noticed my presence, the carnivore left, shaking the ground, searching for its next prey.

For a few moments, I hovered in a state of indecision. Finally, I sighed, turned around and, at low speed this time (even your mortal eyes would be able to see me), flew back where I had left the herbivorous dinosaur. When I arrived there, though, I opened my mouth wide, revealing my perfect, snow white teeth. My blue eyes widened. I placed my hand on my sensational chest. I let out a girlie exclamation with my wonderful voice, but also in a tone that revealed my shock. The dinosaur was gone, and so was all vegetation of the area! The herbivorous giant had eradicated all plant life within a radius of several meters. The plain's wonderful part I had left when the dinosaur was still there had transformed into a desert.

I sighed. With my heart having sunk, I landed on the dry ground. I stood there for a long time, with my feet crossed and my arms behind my back, feeling concerned about the events of that day. My usually calm face was uptight.

The recent scenes were repeating themselves in my mind over and over. The scene of the tyrannosaurus devouring a bear PLUS a hill of meat as if it was having a snack! The scene of the long necked, giant animal turning a green area into a wasteland! It was obvious that dinosaurs ruled the planet of mortals. They were bad rulers nonetheless. If they kept that up, soon, they would eradicate all other species of flora and fauna. And, of course, they would die as well afterward.

It was obvious what I had to do. I had to sacrifice the giant lizards so that at least the other life forms would survive. Otherwise, in a few years from then, nothing would have remained alive. Do not get me wrong. I am not insensitive. Dinosaurs also were my creation and I cared about them as much as I cared about all my other creatures. However, when you are the creator and administrator of creation, there come times when you have to be ruthless. Maybe, someday, the day all my creatures would be immortal like me, I would bring dinosaurs back to life. That day, though, had a long way to go yet to come.

I sighed. A tear rolled out of my charming, blue eye. After a moment of hesitation, I declared my next action: 'Dinosaurs, drop dead.' Immediately, all giant lizards on the planet of mortals had a heart attack. Their enormous bodies falling down shook the whole planet. Their cries of desperation echoed everywhere, every cry being a stab in my immortal heart. Soon, the cries had ceased. It was all over. Dinosaurs were no more. Not even one of them was left. Their bodies, which were now merely masses of dead, soulless, organic matter, would eventually be lost too.

After a minute of excusable mourning, during which I remained silent and motionless, the time had come to create the new species that would dominate the planet. The time had come to create the species whose female individuals would look like me (though none of them would ever even come close to my own beauty). The time had come to create you, humans. Before that, though, there was one more thing which had to be done; I considered that, the first moments of their existence, humans would not be ready to behold me, the almighty Gaia. I opened my wonderful, red lips and declared, 'I shall become invisible.' And instantly, I disappeared. Actually, I was still there, but no creature could see me. To be more specific, I was not merely invisible; I had lost my physical body. I still was able to move, fly, go anywhere I wanted to. I had turned into an immaterial spirit. It was time for my next command: 'Let there be humans.'

And yes, humans appeared, not only around me but also on many other spots of the planet. I made a rotation around my immaterial self in order to examine those around me. They were staring at one another in confusion. At that moment, in their, still untrained, brains, there was only stupefaction and puzzlement. Who were they? How had they got there? What was their purpose? Well, I did not intend to answer these questions of theirs; as if I would ever make it so easy for them!

All of them were fully grown adults. The male to female ratio was about fifty fifty. Females, as I have already told you, had the same physical traits as me, but my supernatural beauty made them look like bad imitations of me. Male bodies, on the other hand, had some essential differences from female ones. They were more muscular, especially their upper halves. The hair on their heads was shorter. Many of them had beards on their faces. Also, almost all of them had hair on their arms, legs and chests. Speaking of their chests, they lacked female breasts. Lastly, the treasure between their legs was not a hairy cavity like women's treasure; it consisted of a sack of skin and, above that, a hairy bush which a tube of skin protruded out of. At the tip of the tube, there was an opening, where one could set the skin aside, thus revealing the red, true form of the male treasure.

It was time to go. Still in my immaterial state, I rose from the ground and soared into outer space. Later, far from your planet's atmosphere, I rematerialized my gorgeous body, with my arms crossed and an expression of contemplation, while keeping flying back to my planet. Maybe, someday, I would come into direct contact with humans. For the time being, though, I had decided to let them sort out their lives by themselves.

As I returned to the planet of immortals, I was contemplating the future of the species I had just created. If the other creatures on the planet of mortals could speak, they would say something like this: 'This new species has no hope of survival. It is the most defenseless and pathetic species in existence. It has no sharp teeth or claws, nor great muscular strength, nor feathers or fur. Moreover, its incapability of using all four limbs for locomotion renders it desperately slow. Even if it escapes carnivores, its exposed skin dooms it to die in the next case of harsh weather conditions; it will freeze in winter or scorch in summer.'

Myself, though, due to my superior knowledge and understanding, I could predict that that new species, humans, would dominate the planet of mortals, just as dinosaurs had done before. Furthermore, just like dinosaurs, humans also would turn out to be a huge threat for all other life forms of the planet, though at least, as opposed to dinosaurs, it would take humans a long time to destroy everything. Therefore, there was no need to worry for the time being.


	4. You Humans

After the events of the previous chapter, a long time went by (well, a long time by your own standards, humans) without me visiting your planet again. From time to time, I would watch the evolution of your kind, with my insight, that is to say, my ability to see, from wherever I am, anytime I want, what happens at any part of the universe I want. And I admit that you were progressing fast. Anyway, there came a day when I decided the time had come for my second visit to the planet of mortals. I did not intend to come into direct contact with you yet; I would visit you in my immaterial state.

So, I woke up in the morning as usual and sat up in my incorruptible cloud bed. I lazily hugged my knees to chest, trying to decide what to do first. There was no hurry to go to the planet of mortals. At that moment, I was in a mood for something else: dance!

I jumped off my bed, floated out of my isle and landed on grass. Thanks to my omnipotent will, the place got flooded with music coming from nowhere. The song 'I'm an Englishman in New York'! What a wonderful dance piece that is! I felt myself getting carried away by the rythm flooding my interiors. I closed my eyes, opened my arms, slightly moved my head upwards and started pacing in small circles with small and fast steps. Soon after, I placed my hands behind my head while keeping pacing. Without realizing it, I had also slightly opened my mouth, revealing my snow white teeth.

Meanwhile, a crowd of animals had gathered. Here and there, hares, deer and squirrels were standing and gazing at me, enchanted by the grace in my movements. I stopped pacing in circles and started moving sideways, still with small and fast steps, with my head and arms moving to and fro and my red hair waving. My eyes remained closed and my mouth slightly open. I realized that I was now dancing almost on toes; I had got so carried away by the rythm that I felt like I was flying. And I'm not saying this because, with my powers, I could literally fly anyway! My little friends were tracking every movement of mine, unable to take their eyes off me.

I finished my figures with a spin in the air. I did not use my levitating abilities, I just jumped supernaturally high. I was a gorgeous spinning top! My friends' eyes had bulged. How did I know, you ask. And I answer that I did not need to look at them to know what they were doing. My senses are beyond your understanding, mortals.

I fell on my wonderful back, without getting hurt of course. The music stopped. I stayed like that for a while, lying, basking in the breeze, which was showering down on every square centimeter of my body, and panting, not because I was out of breath, but because I was happy, genuinely happy, as my wide, sweet smile indicated.

I raised my knees to my chest and, swinging my legs up and forward, jumped from back to feet. My animal friends had circled around me. 'I'll see you later, guys,' I said to them with a smile and soared into outer space, heading to the planet of mortals.

When I saw your (blue because of its huge bodies of water) planet come into my field of vision, I converted into my immaterial state. As opposed to my previous visit, this time, I did not leave my landing to chance. I made sure to land in an area where humans lived. The spot I chose was in a plain, next to a waterhole. This time, I reached the ground without opening a crater, since I was in my immaterial state. I looked around, searching for human creatures to watch. And there came a mortal woman, heading to the bank of the lake.

She had black, middle length hair and green eyes. She was fairly beautiful, but, of course, trash compared to me. By now, humans had evolved enough to cover their bodies with clothes, which, besides protecting them from harsh weather conditions, made them feel more comfortable during their gatherings, for some reason. That specific female individual was wearing a brown, fur coat that covered her thighs, the treasure between her legs, her torso and her right shoulder. Some sort of rope tied around her waist kept the coat fastened on her body. The garment was supplemented by a pair of fur boots of the same color as the coat, which covered her feet and calves. Like the coat, the boots were fastened on her with some rope.

When the woman reached the bank of the water body, she halted. She looked around, probably to make sure there were no wild animals nearby. She untied her coat and footwear, revealing her imperfect body. She got into the water, little by little. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the sweet, aquatic caresses. She was rubbing various parts of her body; let's not forget that, unlike me, you mortals do not take baths merely for your pleasure, but also because filth can stick to your imperfect bodies.

Suddenly, a small area of water in front of her became red. As soon as the mortal woman noticed this, an annoyed expression was formed on her imperfectly beautiful face. She placed her hands between her legs and started rubbing her treasure. I instantly recognized the symptoms. It was that thing that happens to mortal women once a month, until they reach a relatively advanced age: Blood comes out of their treasure. An uncomfortable process which my own, superior body is spared. After cleaning her treasure, she immersed her head in the water for a moment so that her hair would get wet too. Next, she dried her hair by squeezing it. She got out of the water, got dressed and left. I followed her, still in my immaterial state.

She reached a cave outside of which a man with black hair and a beard was sitting on a rock. His outfit was the same as the woman's, except that the coat covered both shoulders. Next to him, there was a dead buffalo, with a spear impaled in its neck. The man was holding a chunk of meat, which obviously came from the buffalo, and eating, with his beard stained with blood. As soon as he saw the woman, he got up, tossed his food and looked imperatively at her. The female let out some cries. Their primitive, rudimentary language holds no secrets from my omniscience. So, below, I quote what I heard them say.

'The red liquid is gone,' the woman said.

'So, shall we do it now?' the man enquired.

The mortal woman's expression became hesitant. She lowered her eyes. The man grabbed her arm and dragged her into the cave. I followed them. The man tossed the woman on a heap of branches and leaves. Next, he lay down on her. They started kissing each other on various parts while slowly undressing. The man seemed more passionate. The woman, on the other hand, looked more like she was struggling to get away. I could tell, though, that she was not struggling with all her strength.

Finally, the man pushed his treasure into hers and started thrusting. The woman started letting out cries; it was hard to tell whether they were cries of pleasure or cries of pain.

Anyway, I had started feeling strange. I had seen mortals doing this thing before, in movies I had watched. But watching it on screen is different from watching it happening right before your eyes! What I felt at that moment was something I could not define yet, maybe because I did not have my material body.

Past a point, I could not bear to watch them anymore. At super speed, I exited the cave, moved to another part of the plain and, after making sure there were no humans around, rematerialized my body. I realized right away that I felt different from the previous time I had been in my material state. I was breathing heavily. I placed my hand on my chest and realized that my immortal heart was beating faster than usual. Furthermore, my breasts had increased in size and their nipples had hardened. I felt I could barely stand on my feet. And, between my legs... down there... in my treasure... I felt something like... a yearning. I could not take my mind off what I had seen those mortals doing before.

I teleported back to my planet. Yes, this time, I used teleportation. I by no means wanted to wait to reach home by flying. I was not thinking about anything, I did not even remember who I was, my mind had got paralyzed. At that moment, the only thing in my superior mind, the only thing in the world I cared about was to return instantly to my planet, to my bed... and do a certain thing!

The teleportation transported me right before the tree covered island I used as a home. I was trembling. I felt something furry rubbing itself against my legs. I lowered my gaze and saw a black bunny. 'N-not now, my little one,' I said with an awkward smile while trembling and struggling to keep myself standing.

I felt like my heart was about to explode. What were these newfound sensations? If I was not immortal, I would have thought I was dying! The bunny looked curiously at me. With a several meter long leap, I got in my island. I was alone at last! Nobody was going to disturb me in my private island. Exactly what I wanted at that moment!

With a small, reverse leap, I ended up with my back on my incorruptible cloud bed. My breath had got so heavy that I did not know how I could still breath at all. I opened my legs. Little by little, I inserted my index finger into my treasure. I closed my eyes and bit my lower lip with my upper teeth. What a wonderful, newfound sensation that was! What did it matter if I was the almighty Gaia? What did it matter if I determined the lives of all creatures? What did it matter if I could create and destroy worlds and realities as I saw fit? All the above seemed so trivial to me at that moment. The only thing that mattered to me at that moment was that newfound, amazing sensation!

I was moving my finger back and forth in my treasure. I was slowly letting out soft, cute moans, with my eyes still closed and a wonderful, wide smile on my impeccable face. The sensation was getting better and better!

I added my middle finger and kept up the same motion, now with two fingers. Meanwhile, with my other hand, I started massaging my gorgeous, swollen breasts. I bent my knees so that my soles touched the bed. My moans were replaced by low cries.

The more my pleasure increased, the louder my cries became. Until I lost all contact with reality… I tasted a sensation I had never imagined existed. I wide opened my eyes and tossed my head forward. At the same time, my toes curled and gripped the incorruptible material my cloud bed was made of. I let out the final cry, a cry so loud that it caused every animal within a radius of several meters to flee in panic. Poor ones! That must have been the first time in their eternal lives that they felt fear.

And then… came peacefulness. I let my head fall, with my mouth closed and a smile of bliss on my face. I removed my two fingers from my treasure and let my legs fall. My whole body was now relaxed. For a few moments, keeping up my smile, I was making sweet 'mmm' sounds… for no reason. Then… I don't remember. I fell asleep. I slept blissfully as never before.

I woke up a fairly long time later. I stretched with a smile. I floated out of my island and landed on grass. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, still smiling. I began walking, with no destination in mind. Everything seemed beautiful. How beautiful life is!

Suddenly, I felt once more something rubbing itself against my legs. It was the same bunny as before. I laughed. I crouched, cradled it, stood up and kissed its head. 'I adore you, my little one,' I said sweetly. It looked curiously at me. I burst into laughter and kissed its head again.


	5. Direct Contact

After my second visit to the planet of mortals, once more, I spent a long time without leaving my planet. I was having a good time with my old occupations as well as with the new, wonderful occupation I had discovered! I knew that was nothing more than a substitute for the activity a mortal man and woman engage in when it is just the two of them. Perhaps, someday, I would try the real thing! But there was no hurry. I had the whole eternity to do it. For the time being, I was good with the substitute.

During the same period, I would watch your evolution, mortals. Despite your huge progress, humans, you would constantly give tokens of your exceptional... stupidity. Because you are, by far, the most idiotic species I have ever created. Not only because of your self destructive tendencies (along with lemmings, you are the only self destructive species in existence), not only because you pollute the environment you live in (I mean, seriously, how stupid must you be to do such a thing?), not only because you are the only species that kill for entertainment (even the largest carnivores kill only when it is necessary for their survival), but also because almost all of you go through an ordeal every day so that a small number of your species' individuals can live comfortably. And it's not like those few people that exploit you have any sort of supernatural powers, which would explain why they dominate you. Yet, for some reason, you are afraid to disobey them. If, say, two kings, two ordinary humans like anyone else, order thousands of people to kill one another, everybody will fear to disobey. Thousands of people will fear two! No offense, humans, but, sometimes, I think that the only two infinite things are my powers and your stupidity (though I'm not entirely sure about my powers).

Anyway, there came a day when I decided the time had come to visit the planet of mortals for the third time and, furthermore, this time, to come into direct contact with humans, to approach them without turning invisible! The time had come for mortals to meet me face to face!

So there I was, arriving on the planet of mortals for the third time. This time, I landed in a snowstorm, in a snow white landscape. I softly touched the ground and sank into the snow, almost knee deep. How annoying! The storm would cause visibility problems for you, mortals, but not for my own, immortal eyes. The raging, icy wind was mercilessly beating up my whole body, yet I felt like it was a cool breeze.

I had a walk through the snow and, later, outside of the snowstorm, reached a frozen lake. I kept walking, on the ice, without slipping. Soon, I spotted a large hole in the ice. A white bear was standing next to the hole, probably trying to catch some fish or some seal.

I approached. The impressive, white animal instantly quit its attempts, looked at me and lowered its head; an indication that it recognized its master. I halted right before it and caressed its head and neck. The giant carnivore innocently purred.

'Don't worry, my little one,' I said laughingly. 'In a while, I'll give you as much food as you want. For now, how about a race?' The bear rubbed its nose against my cleavage. I understood that this was an affirmative answer. I laughed again and, due to the power of my will, the ice broke into large fragments. The fragment which myself and the bear were standing on tilted and the two of us fell into the water.

We began swimming side by side, in the raging waters, zigzagging between the swinging fragments of ice. I was laughing my head off. If one saw us, they would say we were moving at equal speeds. The truth, though, is that I was infinitely holding back in order not to leave behind the bear, which could easily outswim your olympic champions, humans. I was swimming the breaststroke, with grace and sensuality. A few moments before reaching the bank, I slightly further slowed down, thus letting the bear win.

I got ashore and, without standing up, lay down on the snow, which was not so deep there, in a prone position, with my hands under my masterpiecious chin. I closed my eyes, smiled, raised my wonderful calves and stayed like that for a while, swinging my calves alternately. 'Congrats, my little one. You won,' I said to the huge animal. I was lying on snow, in a hostile frost, yet I was enjoying it as a mortal girl would enjoy lying in a spring field. Finally, I opened my eyes and looked at the bear. Its fur was wet because of all that swimming. It was so cute. I let out a girlie 'aww' sound. However, it looked disappointed. I knew why!

'Don't worry, my little one. I did not forget my promise,' I said laughingly and, with a wink and a tongue click, showed it the huge heap of fish I had materialized with the power of my invincible will. The bear looked where I was pointing my finger at. They were exquisite, well cooked fish, as those that you mortals can find only at the best restaurants (the ones whose regular customers are those few people that exploit the rest of humanity; I talked about that before). No, they were not fish that used to be alive. They were composed of roasted, organic matter, exactly as if they were real fish that had been fished and cooked.

The animal tucked into the food. I laughed, stood up and decided to dive once more before leaving. First, I jumped supernaturally high. Next, I plunged, with grace that any female, mortal, olympic champion would envy me for and sensuality that would attract any pair of male, mortal eyes. I kept descending deeper and deeper, until I let my exhilaratingly beautiful body fall on its back. I stayed like that for a while, lying on the lake floor, with my four limbs spread out, my mouth open and a smile of felicity, gazing at the various life forms swimming above me. Even at the bottom of a frozen, polar lake, the cold did not bother me! Even so, I decided to find something warmer.

So, I soared out of the lake and flew away. Soon, my rapid flight had completely dried my body and my hair was back in its perfect condition.

I had reached the central regions of the planet. I slowed down and decreased my flight altitude, in order to gaze at the places I was passing over. The world was definitely very different from my previous visit. I saw magnificent cities, with enormous walls and impressive palaces. I saw vast farm areas, with villeins cultivating them for 'noblemen' to enjoy the fruits of the efforts. I saw gorgeous, coniferous forests. One of those forests was my next stop.

I landed at a clearing. What a beautiful, sunny day it was; it made such a great contrast with the landscape I had visited earlier. There were many populated areas close to the forest; with my supernatural senses, I could feel the presence of many humans within a relatively short radius. It did not matter what language they spoke in that region; I can speak and understand anything.

Right after my landing, I saw a wounded bee staggering on the ground and trying in vain to fly. No matter how it had ended up in this condition, it was doomed to a slow and torturous death, unless I did something. Watching its convulsive movements, I could feel its despair. I crouched, opened my hand right above the insect and bathed it in a gentle, yellow light. By the time the light had faded, the bee was healed. It flew away, buzzing loudly.

I laughed and stood up. I closed my eyes, smiled and took a deep breath, basking in the aromas of the forest. A voice made my eyes open and my smile fade: 'Man, what a fucking hot babe that is!'

I turned to where the voice had come from. A man emerged to the clearing. From his outfit, I could tell that he was a soldier. The left half of his sleeveless coat was white, with an embroidery design of a red lion. Its right half was red, with golden symbols. Sleeves made of metal fibers protruded out of his sleeveless coat, along his arms, indicating that he was wearing armor beneath. On his hands, he was wearing thick, brown, leather gloves. A belt with a sword sheath was tied around his waist. Under his waist, the coat had an opening that revealed a durable pair of trousers, whose color alternated between brown and yellow stripes. On his feet, he was wearing brown shoes, one of which had a metal star attached to its heel. Lastly, on his head, he was wearing a dome shaped, metal helmet, which concealed his hair. In any case, he had a red beard. I looked coldly at him. He seemed pretty smart. However, he obviously did not have the best intentions.

A second soldier emerged. Like his partner, he was wearing a sleeveless coat, but his own coat was green, without an opening under the waist. Like his partner, he had a belt with a sword sheath tied around his waist. Like his partner, he had sleeves made of metal fibers protruding out of his coat. In addition, he was wearing metal enforced, brown gloves and shoulder pads. His iron boots, along with the length of his coat, obscured his trousers. As for his face, in contrast to the first soldier's, it was shaved. On his head, he was wearing a kettle helmet. Merely from his eyes, one could tell that, as opposed to the first soldier, he was not brilliant; on the contrary! He was almost mentally retarded. When the second soldier saw me, his eyes bulged. 'D-d-d-dude, this chick is nude!' he cried to his partner.

'I can see that, you dumbhead. I'm not blind,' the first soldier yelled in an annoyed tone of voice. Next, he looked at me again and, in his thick beard, I discerned a threatening smile. 'So, girl, tell us, what kind of game are you playing?' he asked impudently.

How stupid humans are! As I said in a past chapter, all other creatures of creation recognize me as their superior as soon as they see me. It is only you humans who are asking for it.

'I don't owe you an explanation,' I answered, reciprocating his sass as well. The bearded man laughed.

'Sweetie, if you quit this attitude, the three of us can have a reeeally good time,' he said.

'What are you doing here anyway?' I lazily asked.

'We are deserters,' he explained. 'We left the king's campaign. We got tired of sweating blood and risking our lives on the battlefield for the sake of a scumbag who plays savior of the nation.'

How do you like that! So there are people who do not obey the unreasonable demands of every fraud. I could respect those two guys if they were not obviously provoking me at that moment.

'H-h-h-hurry, dude,' the second soldier interrupted us. 'I-I-I-it's been forever since I got laid. My balls are about to explode.'

The first soldier glared at his partner. 'I'll go first,' he said imperatively. The second soldier nervously nodded. The bearded one began pacing towards me, slowly and sadistically, with his threatening smile returning. That fool could not realize that he was walking to his death! I made an attempt to warn him.

'I'd advise you not to come any closer,' I said, with a sarcastically sensual smile.

'Why's that?' he laughed, without stopping.

Having started losing my patience, I replaced my smile with a stern expression and spoke again: 'Things are not always what they seem. I am a creature beyond anything your imperfect brain can comprehend. I existed when your great grandfather was breastfed. I will exist when your great grandchildren have alzheimer. I have…'

'Enough of your bullshit,' the bearded man abruptly interrupted me, having got within reach, with his smile gone. He reached for me. His hands never touched my body, though, for, the next moment, I had penetrated his stomach with my fist; his metal armor could not protect him from that! He spent the last moments of his life with his eyes and mouth wide open, unable to believe what had just happened. I pulled back my arm, taking it out of the hole in his abdomen. The blood left on me magically rolled off my delicate and incorruptible arm, leaving it spotless. The dying man tried to lean on me, but I pushed him in disgust and he fell on his back. He died in a pool of blood.

I looked at the other soldier, who was naturally horrified by what had happened. Let's see, would he be proven to be as stupid as I thought? I smiled determinedly at him. 'Don't make the same mistake as your friend,' I advised him. 'You have a chance to run away. Get lost!'

The guy remained hesitant for a while. Finally, the horror in his eyes was replaced by anger. He clenched his fists. He growled. Then, he started talking: 'B-b-b-BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU.'

Yes, he was as stupid as I thought after all! He charged at me while drawing his sword and raising it. The moment the blade was milimeters away from connecting to me, due to the power of my will, the soldier froze in the exact position he was: standing, with the sword raised! I left only his face unparalyzed, so that I could see the terror in his eyes. I took two steps backwards, in order to see his expression better. I raised my hand to the level of my face, formed a fist and extended my index finger. I had a stern expression.

'Sweetie, I gave you a chance to save yourself and you wasted it. So be it,' I said. Next, I smiled. 'Night night,' I said sarcastically. With a quick signal of my raised arm, I caused his head to explode! Blood and parts of his rudimentary brain splattered around. The headless body fell on the ground and, after a few convulsions, stayed still. My smile faded. I lowered my hand and sighed. Next, I flew away.

I passed over the coniferous forest and reached a mountain range. There was not much vegetation there; the ground was mainly rocky. On a mountain top, I discerned a settlement surrounded with a relatively tall wall. Of course! It was a monastery. In settlements of this kind, there live mortals who want to isolate themselves from the other mortals so that they can devote themselves to something, usually to some religion. Religions are the ridiculous attempts of mortals to explain the things that their imperfect brains cannot comprehend, by coming up with imaginary creatures they call 'deities'. Religions are often used by exploiters to manipulate the other mortals. In short, religions are one more token of the exceptional human idiocy!

As for me, I have never wondered whether I would call myself a deity. The only sure thing is that, among the existing creatures, I am the closest thing to that.

I hovered above the monastery, in order to examine it. The central building was a structure that looked like a unity of multiple buildings, the tallest of which had a dome shaped roof. There were also sparse, smaller buildings. The ground alternated between soil and grass. Here and there, women were coming and going, each minding her own business. For instance, I noticed a kneeling one on grass mumbling something with her eyes closed and her hands clasped together. Another one was drawing water from a well. A third one was tilling a garden. A group of other women were walking together and chatting. The common thing among all those women was their outfit. Every one of them was wearing a black coat that covered her almost entirely, leaving only her hands and face exposed. Most of those women were a relatively advanced age; only a few were young.

What an exquisite, serene place! I could spend a few days here! I began landing softly and, at the same time, cleared my throat in a polite and girlie manner, to make sure that everybody would notice me. All the heads turned. The women's eyes bulged when they saw me land with extraordinary grace: I had my arms crossed, one leg raised and crossed over the other and a sweet smile on my gorgeous face.

I touched the ground, first with my toetips, next with my whole sole. Lastly, I uncrossed my other leg, put my other foot down as well and uncrossed my arms. 'Hello,' I said politely. 'I am Gaia and I would like to…' I was interrupted by the screams the women produced as they ran away. It seemed they had freaked out because they had seen someone arrive at their retreat from the sky and, perhaps, because humans are not used to seeing someone who does not cover their body with those fabrications they call clothes.

And so, I was left alone. I rolled my eyes and sighed. 'Great start,' I mumbled sarcastically. I did not move, though; I knew they would be back soon. And, indeed, a few moments later, here they came! Their steps were now synchronized, as opposed to when they retreated, earlier. Also, they had brought along another woman, who was walking ahead of them.

The aforementioned woman looked older than the rest. She was wearing the same black coat as the others, plus a white head cloth, which indicated her special position in the community. She was the only one that did not look frightened. One of the other women spoke to her: 'Here, abbess. This is the demonic witch that flew here to tempt us.' The abbess looked icily at me while the others took a few steps back.

'You with little faith. Why do you fear a whore?' the abbess scolded them, without taking her eyes off me. She began approaching me slowly and, at the same time, took out a cross and extended the arm holding it towards me. 'Can you see this?' she rhetorically asked, obviously referring to the cross. 'This is my weapon against your magic, sinner. I don't fear you, demon. We will take you to the Inquisition, who will burn you, just as you deserve, you scum of Hell.' To everybody's surprise, I laughed.

'Girl, not even all flames in the world together can burn me,' I said. 'Myself, I have stepped on the sun, whose flames are thousands of times more horrible than any flame you mortals have ever seen. Among the existing places, the sun is the closest thing to what you mortals perceive as Hell.' Some whispers were produced among the nuns. The abbess stopped pacing and her wrinkled face became surprised.

'You have been… to the sun?' she asked. My face got serious.

'It was a long time ago,' I sighed. 'You weren't born yet.'

'Don't try to mess with my mind, Beelzebub,' the aged nun growled, covering the distance left between us with fast steps, and slapped my immaculate face. Although I did not feel the slightest pain, I could tell she had hit me almost as hard as she could. Her eyes widened when she realized that not only had I not winced but also my head had not moved. Not even half an inch! I gave her a deriding smile! She stared at me in shock for a while, but she soon pulled herself together.

'Catch that slut,' she yelled. A group of nuns charged at me. They dragged me into a basement, with the other nuns following and booing. A nun lit the torch next to the entrance and the place got illuminated. It was a grey room, with walls made of irregularly shaped bricks. There was an elevated, wooden platform, over which chains were hanging down from the ceiling. A nun got me onto the platform and tied my arms up with the chains. All the while, I had an indifferent expression.

'All right, abbess, she can no longer escape,' the one who had tied me up said to her superior. 'The chains are made of brand new steel and, on top of that, I tied her up really tight.' Actually, I could escape anytime I wanted to. But I had decided to play their game, just for the fun of it. The abbess tossed a whip to the nun that was standing next to me on the platform.

'Lash the naked body of that shameless creature till she begs for forgiveness,' she commanded. The nun struck me, with a whipcracking sound reverberating across the room. To everybody's surprise, I did not react at all. A few moments of silence followed, until the abbess spoke: 'What is the matter, sister? You did not have a big breakfast?' The annoyed abbess got on the wooden, elevated platform, grabbed the whip from her subordinate and struck me as hard as she could. I remained completely indifferent.

The abbess let out a scream of anger and started repeatedly lashing me in rage. 'Why are you just staring, idiots? Help me,' she yelled at the others. Some nuns got on the platform, holding one whip each, and started lashing me simultaneously on every part of my body. This went on for hours, yet I kept up my indifferent expression. Not a single wound, not a single mark had been created on my inimitably beautiful body.

The nuns had given up. They were standing, panting and looking at me. Even the abbess was now terrified. 'Enough of this farce,' I said. With a soft movement, I crumbled the chains as if they were spider webs. The nuns screamed. Those standing on the platform stepped back nervously, thus falling off the platform, on their bottoms. I raised my mesmerizingly beautiful body in the air. Now silence prevailed. Everybody was paralyzed with terror.

Once more, the silence was broken by the abbess, who was sitting on the floor, with her eyes bulging: 'Virgin Mary, save us.'

'It is official,' I sighed while hovering with my arms crossed. 'You humans are idiots. I have considered sharing my immortality and the joys of my planet with your kind. Unfortunately, it is impossible to reason with you. You humans all have serious obsessions. So be it. I will leave you to your misery.'

Next, I got out of the room, opening a hole in the ceiling, and flew away. Soon, I was in outer space, melancholically heading back to my planet. I did not intend to visit the planet of mortals ever again (though, later, I would, because of circumstances that would make me change my mind; but that would happen a long time later).

By the time I was back on the planet of immortals, night had fallen. I landed softly, enjoying the sensation of the grasses night dew under my soles. I stayed still, with the events of the day that had just ended repeating themselves in my head.

It was obvious that I did not fit with the world of mortals. On the other hand, I no longer wished to be alone. Sure I loved my animal friends. But I also felt the need for human contact. Because, at least partly, at least in a sense, I am a human too.

It was then that I decided to create a human of my own, immortal kind. It was then that I decided to become a mother. Well, in a sense, I already was a mother, the mother of all living things, since I am their creator. But that would be the first creature that would come out of my loins, the first creature I would be a mother to in every sense.

In mortal women, gestation is connected to that activity that a mortal man and a mortal woman engage in when it is just the two of them. But I, Gaia, have the ability called parthenogenesis. I can impregnate myself, merely with the power of my will. I opened the red beauty that my lips are, in order to declare the next action of my indomitable will: 'Life inside me.'

And so, it happened! I could feel it! There was something alive in me! I looked at my belly and gently placed my hands on it. I smiled. What a wonderful feeling! The mortal women that have carried a child know exactly what I mean. As for you, mortal men, I am sorry, but I cannot fill you in. This feeling is indescribable; if only you could feel it.

I caressed my belly with the tips of my delicate fingers. Like mortal women, I would gestate for nine months. I raised my gaze to the night sky, to enjoy the starry spectacle. 'And this child shall be named after the sky,' I whispered.


	6. The Birth

The days of my pregnancy were beautiful. As opposed to mortal women, my own, superior body was spared the side effects of the whole process. My belly did not inflate. I did not suffer from morning sickness. I did not have mood swings.

I shall say no more about my pregnancy, or I could fill many pages with all those amazing things I felt during that wonderful period. So, let me fast forward to when the day had come to deliver.

Morning. I was sleeping on my incorruptible bed, peacefully, lying in a supine position, with my mouth closed and my arms crossed under my flawless chest. A sweet morning ray illuminated my unimaginably beautiful silhouette. I abruptly opened my eyes. My face was serious. I lowered my hands and touched my belly (which wasn't swollen in the slightest) with my palms. I felt the life inside me. 'The time is come,' I whispered.

Without bothering getting up, I raised my body in the air right away and sloppily floated out of my private island. Next, after downwardly rotating my body 90 degrees, thus taking a more proper posture in the air, I flew a little further.

I landed in one of my planet's exquisite fields. All animals around, be it hares or deer or birds, formed a wide circle around me, as if they could sense what was going to happen. I stood with my arms by my sides and my legs apart. I lowered my head. 'Prepare yourselves,' I said to the animals looking at me, without looking at them or addressing any of them in particular. 'Get ready to greet your brother, Uranus.' ('Uranus' means 'sky'.)

Something began to come out of the treasure between my legs, little by little. Something egg shaped. Actually, it was an egg! It fell on the grass without breaking. I took a few steps back in order to make room for the egg to hatch, but also in order to get a better view of the whole process.

The egg began to emit a golden light. It was increasing in size… and increasing… rapidly. In the beginning, it was the size of a normal chicken egg, but, eventually, it became so large that even an adult would be able to fit in it. And then… the light faded. The egg stopped growing.

Cracking sounds were heard as fractures were formed on the egg's surface, until, suddenly… the egg shell was smashed into smithereens, which were scattered (by a sudden breeze that came from nowhere and lasted exactly as long as needed to scatter them), thus revealing the egg's content. My Uranus was sleeping curled up on the ground!

I approached to look at him. He had black, dense hair, a sweet, naturally handsome face and the perfect male body. It was as developed as it should be; neither femininely atrophic nor unaesthetically muscular. With hair on the right places (legs, arms, armpits, chest) and without a trace of beard on his charming face.

He abruptly opened his enchanting, green eyes. He looked at me. He jumped to his feet, with his eyes wide open in surprise. (I guess the first moments of conscious existence are always a surprise; especially if, from the first seconds of your existence, you have the mental and talking capabilities of an adult.) He nervously looked around him. He stared at the animals surrounding us. They stared back at him, curiously.

Meanwhile, I could not help having a glance between his legs. I noticed that his treasure was the perfect shape and size!

Finally, the boy calmed down and looked back at me. A look full of innocence! I could feel that, despite his male body, he had the innocence of a child. I don't mean that he was stupid or mentally incapable. I just mean that he did not have the slightest evil in him. I specified this because you mortals often confuse those two things with each other.

One more thing I realized right away was that his powers and knowledge far surpassed those of mortals. But, of course, he by no means possessed omnipotence or omniscience; these are attributes unique to me.

And, of course, his body was ageless and incorruptible like mine. He could not get dirty or sick, he did not have the needs of mortals (breathing, nutrition) and he would never need to go to the toilet, even if he ate.

I reciprocated his innocent look with a solemn one. (Don't judge me; that was all new to me as well.) 'Do you know who you are?' I asked him.

The boy hesitated for a moment. 'I'm… I'm Uranus,' he finally said. I nodded.

'And do you know who I am?' I asked. Uranus shyly lowered his gaze. Next, he raised his gaze back to me and gave me a bug eyed look this time.

'You're… my mom,' he declared. I nodded and, at the same time, Uranuses expression became radiant as he realized what he had just said. A wide, childlike smile was formed on his face. 'You're my mommy!' he cheerfully exclaimed. Before I could recover from the surprise, he charged at me and hugged me, almost knocking me down!

Even though I could not see his face during the moments he was hugging me, with my developed senses, I could tell that he had closed his eyes and was smiling, with his mouth closed this time. 'You're my mommy,' he repeated, now in a lower voice. 'My sweet mommy!'

If some mortal watched this scene, they would be baffled, not just by Uranuses childish behaviour but also by the fact that he called me 'mommy'; at least physically, we looked the same age. Who could imagine that the difference between our actual ages was, in your metric system, mortals, in the range of millennia?

I had a comical expression, not knowing how to react. Finally, I smiled uncomfortably, raised my hand and patted him on the shoulder. 'Err… can we now stop doing this?' I asked with an awkward giggle.

Uranus laughed loudly, let go of me and, with a supernatural leap, which was accompanied by a few air flips, jumped onto the back of a light brown deer with dark brown spots. He grabbed it by its rambling horns. The deer stood up on its hind legs for a moment. Without falling, Uranus kept holding the horns and burst into laughter. 'Run, antelope,' he cried.

'Basically, it's not an antelope,' I tried to explain. 'It's a dee...' Too late! Not only the deer that Uranus was riding but also all other animals that had surrounded us started running in all directions. In the pandemonium that prevailed, I lost my newborn yet lively offspring. With an annoyed expression, I started looking for him among the rampaging animals.

I searched for a fairly long time. I was now far from the mess my child had created. I had reached the bank of a lake. Everything was quiet. My senses were telling me that Uranus was nearby.

Suddenly, from very high, maybe even from the clouds, Uranus dove into the center of the lake. With a lot of momentum! I let out a girlie cry of shock as his dive displaced an enormous amount of water, which fell right on myself (just my luck!), forcing my butt to the ground and, of course, making me soaking wet!

I stayed like that, with my knees bent, supporting my body with one hand while, with the other, I irritatedly moved a wet lock of hair away from my eyes to restore my vision.

And, before I could recover from all that, Uranus launched himself out of the water, from deep inside the lake, soaring into the sky (which he was named after). 'WOO HOO,' he cried as he skyrocketed.

'URANUS,' I yelled in a comically angry tone. Once more, too late! He had already soared out of sight. I soared as well, after letting out a growl.

For a while, I was flying in random directions, fast and angrily, just wanting to get dry. When I had got dry, I focused once more my senses on tracking my son. I began flying in a certain direction. Oh, once I got my (crystally beautiful) hands on him…

And there he was, lying on a huge, square, blue hammock (which he had obviously materialized out of nowhere with the power of his will), in a supine position, with one leg's knee bent and the other leg crossed over the former. He had his eyes closed and a wonderful, peaceful smile. His hammock was flying thanks to four white flamingos; each bird was holding with its long beak one of the hammock's four corners.

I reached above Uranus. Our flight lines were now parallel and we were moving at equal speeds. Without changing his lying position, the boy just opened his eyes. What he faced was me glaring at him like a strict mother, with my arms crossed. 'Hey, mommy,' he said, keeping up his smile. 'Ain't life amazing?'

That moment, I realized I could not get angry with him. He was the sweetest, the most innocent creature in existence. And I liked seeing him happy. I giggled. 'Why are you using a means of transportation anyway?' I asked. 'You can fly.'

'You're right,' he said. He got off the hammock and pulled ahead. He turned his head to look at me. 'Wanna race?' he smilingly cried and abruptly sped up, leaving me miles behind. My face became stern. So that boy wanted to compete against me, the almighty Gaia! He should take a lesson!

I sped up and, soon, Uranus reappeared in my field of vision. Of course, I could go infinitely faster than that. But I wanted to give him some false hope for a while. Uranus turned his head and looked at me. He horizontally rotated his body 180 degrees while flying, gave me a teasing look and motioned with his index finger for me to come closer. My own look was determined. 'Tee hee hee,' he playfully laughed.

That was it, his grace period had just expired! I sped up as much as needed to feed him my dust. I turned my head and saw him far behind me. I smirked. 'Wow, mommy, you're awesome. You have pulverized me!' an impressed Uranus said, keeping up his smile.

My expression became taken aback. I was surprised that Uranus admitted my superiority without caring! Without the slightest inferiority complex! Without the slightest negative feeling! That moment, I realized it. With my developed senses, I could feel it. There was no doubt. The heart of that child was… was… clean as a whistle!

This surprise made me unconsciously slow down. Thus, the next moment, Uranus reached me. It was too late to prevent the accident. Our eyes bulged in the realization of the upcoming collision.

I don't know whether you mortals can realize the power of a collision between two bodies moving at such velocities. Your own, fragile bodies would be history after such a collision. Anyway, the next thing I knew, our tangled bodies were rolling on the grass. When we finally stopped, I was lying on my back, with Uranus lying on me. He raised his upper body, supporting it with his arms. We exchanged looks. His look was innocent. Right after that, he burst into laughter and lay down on his back next to me, with his arms spread out. I assumed the lying position in which Uranus had lain on the hammock earlier and looked indifferently at the sky.

I gazed for a while, until I heard Uranuses voice next to me: 'Mommy, say hi to my new friend.' I curiously turned my head and saw him lying sideways, with one hand supporting his head and the other holding a stuffed animal doll he had materialized. It was a red giraffe with blue spots (jeez!). 'She is Miss Giraffe,' Uranus explained with a smile. I sighed with an annoyed smile.

'Uranus, how about we stop doing nonsense?' I asked. He burst into laughter.

'Okay, I'll do you this favor,' he said. We stayed recumbent for a little longer. Suddenly, Uranus changed his position into lying face down, perpendicularly to my body. 'Mommy, caress me,' he asked, pointing his index finger at the nape of his neck.

'Uranus, didn't we agree not to do nonsense?' I sighed and uncrossed my legs.

'Please, please,' Uranus begged, moving his wonderful body back and forth, without taking his face off the ground. Even though the tone of his voice was whiny and I could not see his face, I could tell he was smiling.

'What am I going to do with you?' I sighed. I turned sideways, with one hand supporting my head, and, with the other hand, started caressing the back of Uranuses neck with my wonderful nails. The boy started moaning in pleasure. I have to admit he was cute moaning like that. A fairly long time went by that way, until:

'Now move down a little,' Uranus asked.

'Fine, I'll move down a little,' I said in a low voice and started caressing his upper back. Once more, a long time went by. I realized that Uranus would sit there and take my caresses for hours if I didn't stop it myself. 'Uranus, shall we stop now?' I idly asked.

'Fine,' he answered with a laugh. I let both of my arms fall and remained lying in a lateral position. Uranus turned sideways too, facing me with his sweet smile. 'Shall we go and eat something?' he asked.

I stood up and beckoned to him to stand up too. 'Follow me. I will show you where you can eat,' I said. We flew to a cluster of apple trees. They all were loaded with crunchy, ripe apples. Some trees had red apples, some had green and some had yellow. We landed before the cluster.

'Apples? Eww,' Uranus commented with a whiny yet cute grimace. 'One must be a huge weirdo to eat apples.'

'I eat apples!' I snapped. Uranus placed his palm on his mouth and laughed. I glared at him. 'Are you calling me a weirdo?' I asked in a calmly threatening tone of voice.

'Ummm, let me think about it,' Uranus said with a teasing smile. He placed his index finger on his chin and raised his eyebrows, pretending he was thinking. 'Yes,' he exclaimed the very next moment.

I started breathing heavily while looking at him laughing. Finally, with a scream, I charged at him and forced his back to the ground. Uranus was now lying in a supine position and I was on top of him, having immobilized his arms with mine and staring at him coldeyedly. He made an attempt to release himself, but it was impossible for him to move my immeasurably strong arms even one milimeter. Even so, he kept laughing! Without being scared at all! Even though he was aware that, if I wished to, I could obliterate him merely with my thoughts! 'What will you do to me, mommy?' he asked with the same teasing yet sweet smile.

I sighed. I got off him, since, as I have already said, I could not really get angry with that creature. I gave him my hand to help him get up and Uranus accepted my help, without the slightest complex, while still smiling. 'If you don't like apples, you can find various trees on the planet,' I explained. 'Pear trees, berry trees, fig trees et cetera. You will definitely find something to your taste.'

'Yeah, yeah, whatever,' Uranus replied with a playfully indifferent expression. 'Is there any chocolate tree around?'

'I'm sorry, but no,' I answered with a smile of annoyance.

'It's okay, this can easily be fixed,' he cheerfully cried. He turned around, snapped his fingers and a tree materialized before us. Its trunk and leaves were those of an apple tree, but what was hanging from the branches was not fruit. It was bars of chocolate in blue wrappers! Laughing like a child, Uranus jumped, detached a bar from a branch, opened the wrapper and gave the content a look of yearning. 'Yummy. Chocolate with crisped rice is the best viand ever,' he exclaimed and took a bite, producing a crunching sound. He closed his eyes and moaned, with his mouth closed and a smile, enjoying his bite.

'Why did you materialize wrappers as well?' I asked. 'You know that these bars of chocolate are incorruptible like us; they shall never rot. And your hands won't get stained, no matter how long you hold the bar for.'

Keeping up his smile, Uranus opened his eyes and showed me his palm, making a 'wait' gesture. When he swallowed, he answered, 'Mommy, opening the wrapper is part of the experience.'

'Whatever you say,' I said boredly and turned around. 'I'm going to eat some fruit.'

'Okay, eat your uncool fruit. Myself, I'm gonna eat two or three bars of chocolate,' Uranus said with enthusiasm.

So, we spent the rest of the day, sometimes together and getting to know each other, sometimes apart and with each of us doing their own stuff.

By the time night had fallen, I was casually flying, cradling in one arm a book I had just materialized and looking for a spot where I would feel like sitting and reading. I noticed Uranus. He was lying in a prone position on grass, swinging his raised calves alternately, and playing a video game. He was holding a controller, which was connected to a console, which was connected to a television, which, of course, did not need electricity to work. I landed next to him. 'Kid, are you still playing with that thing?' I asked.

'Uh huh,' he responded with a smile, without taking his eyes off the screen.

'You don't have to play all the time,' I said. 'Do something more mature, more creative, for a change. Read a book, for example.' Uranus paused the game and gave me a serious look. Next, he stuck out his tongue and burst into laughter. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I materialized a chair next to me, sat with my legs crossed and began reading the book while Uranus resumed playing the video game. Night could not prevent my superior eyes from reading; besides, on my planet, there is always great moonlight at night.

Much later, Uranus made the console and the tv disappear and let his arms and head fall. 'Mommyyyy,' he drawled in a cutely bored tone of voice.

I took my eyes off the book and looked at him. 'What is it?' I asked.

'I'm sleepy,' he said. That moment, I realized I was sleepy too. I stood up and made the book and the chair disappear.

'Let's go to sleep,' I declared and beckoned to him to follow me. We flew over to my island and landed before it. I explained to him that that was my private isle, where I slept on my incorruptible bed, without anyone ever disturbing me.

'Cool,' he exclaimed. 'I want one too.' And, before I could say anything, he turned around, extended one arm and materialized an island for himself, a few tens of meters away from mine.

'Come on! Let's go check out my new home,' he enthusiastically proposed. Once more, I did not have time to respond. He grabbed my arm and took a supernatural leap. I let out a small, girlie cry of surprise. The next moment, we landed in his island, right next to his bed! 'Perfect,' he exclaimed.

With a leap, he fell on the bed, ending up in the same recumbent position as me when I lay on mine for the first time: face down, hands under the head and one leg bent. He was smiling with his eyes closed. 'So… I'm going to sleep too,' I declared and turned around.

Uranus turned his head sideways. 'Wait, mommy. I want you to cover me first,' he playfully asked.

I turned to him while rolling my eyes. 'Seriously, Uranus?' I snapped with indignation. 'If you want a blanket, you can materialize one right over you.'

'I know. But being covered by your mommy is an irreplaceable experience,' he answered, keeping up his smile.

'Uranus, I have had enough,' I yelled. 'Open your eyes and read my lips: FOR-GET-IT.' Uranus opened his eyes and gave me a 'puppy eyes' look that felt like a punch in the gut! 'U-Uranus, don't stare at me like that,' I said, keeping up my strict expression but starting to feel unsure of myself. He kept his puppy eyes trained on me and started breathing fast, pretending to be crying. I sighed. 'Do you have any preference regarding the color?' I asked, unable to believe that I was succumbing.

'Blue,' he answered, closing his eyes and keeping up his smile. I extended my arm forward, with my fingers forming a cone. A blue blanket materialized in the air and softly fell on him, covering him perfectly. Uranus moaned in pleasure with his mouth closed.

'You are spoiled,' I said.

'I know!' he replied, keeping smiling with his eyes closed. 'I love you, mommy.'

A smile escaped me. 'I love you too, honey,' I replied and left.

* * *

The next morning, when the rays of my planet's light fell on my eyes, waking me up, the first thing I faced was Uranus staring at me with his sweet smile. He was sitting on the ground, close to the bed, with his knees bent and his arms supporting his upper body. I sat up in the bed and my eyes widened. 'What are you doing here, kid?' I asked.

'I wanted to tell you something, so I was waiting for you to wake up, mommy,' he explained. 'You were so sweet sleeping like that, that I just didn't feel like waking you up.'

I sighed, rolling my eyes. 'What do you want?' I asked. Then, I felt something in my hand. Uranus had materialized a deck of playing cards in my hand and another one in his. He jumped to his feet and extended his arm forward, showing me his deck.

'Wanna play duel monsters?' he asked with enthusiasm. (For those who do not know, this is the name of a trading card game; you invented it, mortals.)

'Uranus, I just woke up,' I sighed. 'Where do you get all this energy?'

Uranus looked seriously at me. 'Ohh, now I understand what's going on,' he declared. I gave him a baffled look. With his smile returning, he carried on, louder, 'You're afraid of losing!'

I let my upper body fall on the bed and burrowed my face into the mattress, pretending to be crying with desperation. 'You're chicken,' Uranus insisted, laughing.

I raised my upper body again and sighed. 'Kid, will you ever get serious?' I asked.

Uranus pouted playfully. 'Why are you so serious all the time, mommy?' he asked. I slightly opened my mouth. Uranus started pacing towards me. 'Why don't you relax a little?' he continued. He knelt on the bed, supporting his upper body with one arm. I unconsciously moved back in surprise, making room for him. Uranus playfully caressed my knee with his index finger. He started talking slowly while I was looking at him with my mouth open, not knowing how to react: 'Maayybe… just saying… you need a tiny little help.'

The next thing I knew, our bodies were tangled, the cards were scattered on and off the bed, Uranus was tickling me everywhere he could and I was struggling to get away while laughing uncontrollably. (Okay, I wasn't really struggling; I wasn't using a great part of my astronomically high muscular strength.) 'URANUS… NO… HAHAHA… STOP… HAHAHAHAHA… I'LL BITE YOU, YOU WANT ME TO BITE YOU?... HAHAHAHA… PLEASE, PLE… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…'

'Your resistance is only making it worse,' Uranus said, laughing.

I ended up lying on my back, with my legs bent and turned sideways and Uranus being on top of me and having 'immobilized' my arms. We stayed still. We exchanged looks. My face got serious. I lost myself in Uranuses smiling face. In those wonderful, green, innocent, hypnotic eyes! What a wonderful creature that was! How beautiful! What a clean heart! I felt happy, genuinely happy! I smiled again. 'Ain't it better like this?' Uranus asked.

'So, are we gonna play that game or not?' I asked with a meaningful smile.

Uranus let go of my arms and clapped once. 'Now you're talking, mommy,' he exclaimed. He extended his arm to the side, opened his hand and all his scattered cards started floating and rearranging themselves in the air. Finally, the whole deck returned to his hand. He moved to the bottom of the bed and sat cross legged. 'Come on, pick up your cards as well so that we can begin,' he tried to prompt me.

I sat cross legged at the top of the bed and smirked. 'As if I'm gonna play with the deck that you gave me,' I said. I snapped my fingers and my scattered cards disappeared. Next, I materialized in my hand another deck, consisting of cards of my choice.

'Gimme five, mommy,' Uranus said and raised his arm with his hand open. I 'gave him five' and we started shuffling our respective decks.

* * *

Days went by happily. My coexistence with Uranus was beautiful. We did whatever we wanted, without a care in the world. Uranuses somewhat too cheerful personality contrasted with my earnestness and maturity. We were like fire and water. North and south. And, even though, sometimes, his childish behaviour drove me crazy (but what drove me even crazier was the fact that I could not really get angry with him, no matter how much I wanted to), we were getting along.

Of course, there were also times when I would manage to discipline him, have him sit down and teach him about the world of mortals. Because, as I have said, Uranus does not have my privilege of possessing omniscience. During the lessons, for a better understanding of the things I taught, I used a combination of my insight (I remind you that it is my ability to see, anytime, what happens at any part of the universe I want, a power that Uranus does not possess) and my other bottomless powers to conjure before us immaterial screens with scenes from the lives of mortals.

Not wanting my Uranus to lose his innocence, there were certain things I avoided showing to him. For instance, I never showed him scenes of war or blood. I never showed him hunger or diseases. I never showed him people that were an advanced age and worn out by the passage of time. Basically, I never explained the concept of death to him. (Fortunately, he never wondered where the word 'mortal' derives from.)

* * *

One afternoon, I and Uranus were lying on the top of a small hill and enjoying the grassy view. We were lying sideways, Uranus was in my arms, with his back turned to me, and I was lazily caressing him while he was purring in pleasure.

'Mommy?' he asked at some point.

'What is it, honey?' I said.

'Don't I have a daddy?' he asked.

My eyes widened and I stopped caressing him. 'I beg your pardon?' I said, surprised.

'You have told me that all humans are born to a mom and a dad,' he continued, slightly turning his head towards me. 'So, logically, I must have a dad.'

'No, honey, you don't. I gave birth to you by myself,' I said and kissed his hair. Uranus got an innocently confused expression. I worried for a moment. Was he upset?

No. As it turned out the next moment, nothing fazes Uranus. He smiled again, shrugged and turned his head back towards the other side. 'Whatever you say, mommy,' he said. 'As long as I'm with you, I'm happy.'

'My love,' I whispered. Being as simple minded as Uranus must be nice.

We stayed like that some more, until Uranus spoke again: 'Mommy?'

'What is it, honey?'

'Tell me we will never be apart.'

'We will never be apart,' I repeated what he had said.

Uranus closed his eyes, purred in pleasure and rubbed the back of his head against my breasts. 'I love you, mommy,' he said in a low voice.

'I love you too, honey,' I replied.


	7. The Awakening

It was a seemingly usual day. Under the rays of the magnificent light, I was dancing on the grass. With his innocent eyes, Uranus was watching my hypnotically graceful movements. He was supporting his chin with his clasped hands while resting his elbows on a dark colored bush, without his superior body feeling any pricks or any other kind of discomfort. I stopped and looked at him. 'How come? I thought that dancing bored you,' I commented.

He smiled at me. 'Indeed it does,' he answered. 'But I like looking at you, mommy, no matter what you do. You are so beautiful.'

I laughed. I beckoned to him to approach. 'Let's dance together,' I proposed.

Uranus negatively shook his head, laughing. 'Forget it, mommy. I dislike dancing,' he said.

I approached him and took his hands, gently drawing him towards me. 'Come on, you'll like it. I promise,' I whispered, smiling. Laughing idly, Uranus pretended he was crying. With my almighty will, I flooded the place with music suitable for the occasion.

'Couldn't you at least put the «Royal Uniform» song?' Uranus complained.

'That piece is not suitable for tango,' I answered, laughing. I started dancing, holding my son's shoulders.

'What are you dragging me into, mommy? I have no idea how to do that stuff,' he sighed with a sad smile.

'You will learn!' I said, sweetly but determinedly. 'Follow my lead and instructions.' And so, we started dancing to the rythm of the music. Myself, I was awesome. I was crossing and uncrossing my legs. I was doing circular kicks. I was doing everything fast and with grace.

Uranuses movements, on the other hand, were inept. Soon, though, under my exceptional tutelage, he started managing something, barely. And, little by little, his smile changed; he now seemed to be enjoying it. 'I love you, mommy,' he whispered, thus eliciting a laugh from me.

We danced some more, until… during some figure… we came too close to each other! Our faces were now almost stuck on each other. We could feel each other's breath.

The music stopped. We stayed still. We were staring at each other, feeling lost. We stayed like that for a while, until… until… Well, I'm not sure what exactly happened the first second of that 'until'. In the state of confusion I was at that moment, I could not tell which of us had moved first. In any case, the next thing I knew, our lips were joined!

And, then, darkness; my eyes were closed!

Sometimes, Uranuses lower lip was between my two lips, sometimes, my own lower lip was between Uranuses two lips. I was holding his neck while he was stroking my back with both his palms. I don't know how long this lasted; I had lost track of time.

My next clear memory is of myself and Uranus standing at a distance of about two steps across from each other. We were staring at each other, breathing heavily with our mouths open. I realized I had those symptoms again! The ones I had for the first time a long time before, when I saw that couple of mortals doing that thing in that cave! I could barely stand on my feet. My breasts had increased in size. My nipples had hardened. I was breathing slow and with difficulty. My heart was about to burst. And, down there, in my treasure… I felt that yearning again. All the above were even more intense this time.

With my developed senses, I could tell that Uranuses heart rate also had increased unbelievably. I looked between his legs. His treasure was no longer hanging down. It had risen and its size had multiplied!

Finally, Uranus was the one to break the silence. 'I… I'm… I'm g… g… going now,' he said with unbelievable difficulty, looking as if he was about to faint. I let him get away. I knew what he wanted to do. I converted into my immaterial state and began following him. Uranus did not know about my ability to become invisible and immaterial, so I could watch him with him having no idea.

Uranus was walking, feeling lost. He seemed to be moving at random, without having in mind any specific spot to do that thing he wanted to do. Finally, he decided to stop his fast pacing and just fall face down on grass. And so, he did.

And now, he would discover that wonderful sensation, just as I did long before he was born! Except that, as opposed to me, Uranus had no idea what that newfound thing happening to him was. He knew, of course, that every child has a mother and a father, but he had no knowledge of the details about how mortals have children.

Uranus was now lying in a prone position, with his chin on the ground. He placed one hand on the other. Then, slowly and hesitantly, he put both his hands under his treasure. He closed his eyes and let out a slow, childlike, smiling sigh that indicated all those newfound sensations flooding both his body and spirit. Keeping his eyes closed, he started moving his fairytalishly attractive body back and forth. He continued like that for a fairly long time. If he wished to, he could be really quick to reach the… You know. But he wanted it to last as long as possible.

His eyes were sometimes open and sometimes closed. His movements were sometimes slow and sometimes fast. From time to time, he let out small, sweet moans of pleasure. Every now and then, he removed one hand, continuing only with the other's thumb for a while.

And, finally… it happened. His head turned sideways. His eyes remained closed. His breathing became spasmodic. His thrusts got faster than ever. He was rapidly and alternately slamming his feet on the ground in agony.

And, when all the above was over, came relaxation. A wonderful, wide, innocent smile was formed on his sweet face. He stayed still for a while, lying and smiling. Without opening his eyes or taking his hands off his treasure.

Suddenly, his smile was gone. He abruptly wide opened his eyes, having a surprised expression. I knew why! He abruptly got on his knees. He looked down, with a distorted face. His palms and his treasure's hairy bush were wet with a white, viscous fluid. The fluid of fertility!

Uranus, as I could sense with my limitless senses, on the one hand, was wondering what this white stuff was and, on the other hand, felt uncomfortable being stained with it. (I know, I have told you that our bodies cannot get stained, but that fluid had come out of Uranuses innards; besides, the fluid of fertility is not considered a 'stain'.) His expression was a mixture of surprise, disgust, embarassment and puzzlement. I could barely help myself from laughing.

Finally, Uranus stood up and flew away, heading to a lake to wash himself. When he had got far enough, I returned to my material state and burst into laughter.

* * *

For a while, our life went on normally, without us ever discussing that incident. I did not want to mention it. I wanted to let Uranus explore his body for a while and discover his new instincts.

My boy was revelling in that new to him activity. Many times, he would do that while looking at me! At moments I was alone, he, hidden behind bushes or other kinds of vegetation, would enjoy my beauty (and I don't mean just with his eyes), believing that I was not aware of his presence. That naive creature thought that he could hide from the almighty Gaia! Anyway, I was playing ignorant and having fun doing it! Often, I would do (supposedly by chance but actually on purpose) sensual movements in order to stimulate him even more! Everything was so much fun! Life was so beautiful…

* * *

One morning, soon after waking up, I went to a part of my planet with thick vegetation, practically a jungle. In a lake almost buried among trees and bushes with colorful leaves, I was enjoying my bath, under the rays of light that managed to penetrate the vegetation, accompanied by the singing of gorgeous, multicolored, tropical birds.

While swimming the breaststroke, I sensed Uranuses presence. Hidden behind plants, my innocent boy thought, as always, that this could conceal him from my limitless senses. I repressed my laughter. 'This will be fun,' I thought.

I stepped in a shallow part of the lake. I picked up a handful of water and rubbed, first, my magnificent shoulders and, next, my sensual breasts, with my eyes closed, producing sweet 'mmm' sounds. Before that spectacle, Uranus bit his lower lip while, with one hand's thumb, he was squeezing the tip of his treasure.

With a reverse flip, I immersed my whole body in the water. I stayed underwater for a while. For a moment, I lifted one leg out of the water so that it was pointing up. I could sense that Uranuses mind was paralyzed at that moment. He did not even remember who he was. He remembered nothing other than what he could see before him at that moment and the pleasure between his legs.

Poor thing, now I'd finish him off! I popped out of the water, with an unbelievably graceful hairflip. I gently pulled my hair towards my shoulder and squeezed water out of it. Once more, I started picking up handfuls of water and rubbing various parts of my masterpiecious body. I was moving my hands down… until I immersed them in the water and began rubbing my treasure. Uranus, who had been kneeling up to that point, fell on all fours; he did not even have the strength to be on his knees anymore. But he hadn't finished his deed yet; he was trying to make it last as long as possible. Suddenly, I turned around. My face got serious. No, I would not let him finish this time! I had just decided that the time had come for these games to end!

I floated out of the water, but I did not land on the bank. Uranuses eyes bulged in terror when he saw me flying towards him! However, he did not have time to react; the next moment, I had landed right before him! 'Mom?' he exclaimed and jumped to his feet.

I looked him straight in the eyes with a solemn expression. 'Uranus… I know what you were doing a moment ago,' I said. Uranus gasped in terror.

'W… wh… what are you… what are you talking about?' he asked.

'Come on. You know exactly what I am talking about,' I said, crossing my arms. 'I am talking about that thing you have been doing lately.' Uranuses agitation caused him to fall on his rear. He was now sitting on the ground, supporting his upper body with his arms. He was staring at me, with his eyes bulging, while taking fast and shallow breaths. Meanwhile, I kept my eyes trained on him.

Finally, the boy made an attempt to speak: 'Mo… m… mo… mommy, I…'

I placed my index finger on the lips, thus hushing him. I got down on one knee before him. Uranus was now paralyzed with agitation. 'Kid, calm down, it's okay,' I said, holding his shoulders. 'But you won't do that again. It's not that it bothers me or that it's wrong. It's just that you no longer need to do it.'

Uranus glanced at me, with his expression having now got calmer. 'What… what do you mean I no longer…'

Once more, I hushed him, by placing my index finger on his lips. 'I'll explain to you tonight,' I said in a low voice. 'Don't go to sleep at your island tonight. Come to mine and I will explain everything.'

I stood up. I turned around. After two steps, I turned my head and looked once more at the flustered Uranus, who had not stood up yet. 'I'm going now,' I said and flashed a smile. 'As for you, don't do at all today that thing you have been doing lately. And I promise that, after the explanations I will give you tonight, you will not want to do it anymore anyway.'

I flew away. I knew that Uranus had not understood anything. And who could blame him? Poor thing, he had no idea that activity he had been doing was a substitute for another activity, which is done by two persons of opposite genders. Well, he would find out soon enough!

* * *

Evening! Under the rays of the magnificent moonlight, I was waiting for Uranus on my island's bed. I was lying in a lateral position, with my knees bent, supporting my upper body with my elbow while, with the other arm's index finger, I was lazily caressing the incorruptible, white mattress.

When I realized that the time had almost come, I felt nervous; okay, I may be millenia older than Uranus, I may know infinitely more than him (both because of experience and because I am, by birth, superior to him), but still, what was about to happen was something I had never done before either.

I felt Uranuses presence. He was approaching! I gulped. I tried to hide my anxiety and get a confident expression; no matter what, one of us had to take the upper hand and be the confident one. And, of course, that someone was me!

When I felt he was almost there, I got on my knees on one side of the bed. I believe I had managed to get a relaxed expression. Uranus emerged from vegetation. He smiled awkwardly at me. 'Errr… hey,' he said.

I greeted him with a smile and a slight movement of my head. We exchanged serious looks. In his eyes, I discerned his wondering about what was going to happen. 'Errr… you wanted to tell me something… Right?' Uranus enquired, laughing awkwardly.

Without answering, I patted the mattress, thus beckoning to him to sit on the bed. The boy gulped and got serious again. He approached and got on his knees on the other side of the bed. We stared at each other for a few more moments. Still on my knees, I moved towards the center of the bed. I extended my arm towards Uranus, smiling sweetly at him. He hesitantly took my hand and I gently pulled him towards me. There was enough room for both of us; I had made my bed big in the first place, because I had always liked having plenty of room to stretch while sleeping. We were now both on our knees in the center of the bed, a hair's breadth away from each other. Uranus was breathing heavily. I could feel his warm breath. And I liked it!

I wrapped my arms around his neck, closed my eyes and tenderly joined our lips together. His eyes bulged and, right after that, he closed his eyes and placed his palms on my back. The place was now full of the cute sounds our lips were producing as they repeatedly joined and parted. Soon, we began a 'battle', each of us trying to trap the other's lower lip between their own two. Sometimes, one of us was winning, sometimes, the other one was winning.

Finally, I forced his back to the bed. I got on top of the astonished boy, with my treasure on his abdomen and my palms on his chest. I looked determinedly at him. His eyes were half closed and he was breathing with unbelievable difficulty. 'Mo… mommy,' he stammered. 'This thing we're doing right now… what… what is it?'

I placed the index finger of my masterpiecious hand on his lips to hush him and produced a girlie, delicate and sensual 'shhh' sound. I looked him seriously in his innocent, green eyes. 'Do you trust me?' I asked in a low voice. He nodded with a slow movement of his head that indicated how lost he felt at that moment.

I lowered my upper body onto his, closed my eyes, wrapped my hands around the back of his neck and joined my lips to his. He closed his eyes too, wrapped his arms around my waist and started stroking my back.

We continued like that for a while. Then, with a sudden movement, Uranus caught me by surprise and forced my back to the mattress. He looked at me. His look was no longer confused; it was determined!

He caressed my neck with his nails, causing me shivers. Next, he started kissing my neck. How nice it was! I had closed my eyes and surrendered to sensations.

He took my hand in his. His lips started moving from my neck towards my shoulder. Next, along my femininely beautiful arm. Until they reached my hand, my masterpiecious fingers, which he put between his lips, without touching them with his tongue at all (such a thing would be unaesthetic and ruin the moment).

He moved to my other arm and repeated the process! My sweet one wanted to enjoy every square centimeter of my insurmountably beautiful body!

He moved back to my neck. From there, he moved vertically towards my chest and reached my breasts, which were swollen as never before! First, he massaged them tenderly with his hands, offering me unbelievable pleasure. Next, he used his lips to suck my (hard of arousal) nipples.

He descended while kissing my abdomen. When he reached my treasure, he did not put his mouth there; he just caressed lightly that area, making me bite my lower lip and turn my head sideways.

Uranus started caressing and kissing my leg. My thigh, my knee, my shin! When he reached the bridge of my foot, he stopped just before reaching the toes. He was acting on instinct and knew exactly what he should do; he knew where he should put his mouth and where he should not.

My Uranus was not done yet! He flipped me face down. He wanted to enjoy my body's rear side as well! He started kissing me on my back. I purred. He squeezed my wonderful glutes, the gap between which had never produced anything repulsive. He continued by kissing the back side of my legs and stopped when he reached the heels.

With a sudden movement, I raised my body and forced his back to the bed. 'My turn to kiss you everywhere,' I said with a lively smile. As he had done to me earlier, I kissed him everywhere: on his neck, on his hairy chest, on his abdomen. With his eyes closed, he was smiling and moaning with his mouth closed. I reached his treasure, which was risen, swollen and hard. No, I put neither my hands nor my mouth there; Uranuses treasure should save all its stamina for later! I moved to his legs. I flipped him face down, kissed his back, squeezed his masculine glutes and kissed the back side of his legs.

Uranus raised his upper body and hugged me. With our bodies tangled, we were now rolling around on the bed. Sometimes I was on top and sometimes he was. Hands were holding and letting go of each other, legs were rubbing against each other. We were caressing and kissing each other on random spots. We were not in haste at all to finish; we wanted to explore each other's bodies.

Eventually, we ended up with Uranus on top. The boy wrapped his hands around the nape of my neck. We closed our eyes and joined our lips together. I wrapped my arms around Uranuses waist. I sensually rubbed my soles against the back of his thighs. Finally, I wrapped my legs around his waist.

Our eyes opened, our lips parted and we looked at each other. Our looks were meaningful. The time had come! Uranuses cylindrical treasure was like an iron bar! My hairy cavity was wide open! Uranuses treasure started slowly entering mine. It was unbelievable! This pleasure was incomparably greater to what I felt when doing the substitute!

I moved my head backwards, closed my eyes and let out a slow sigh. Uranuses eyes bulged and his mouth wide opened, yet he did not produce a sound! He grasped my shoulders. I tightened my arms and legs around him (being careful not to overdo it, of course; my real strength would squash my [immortal in every other way] offspring like a mosquito).

Uranus began thrusting. He looked me straight in the eyes. His instincts, which had fully awakened, were guiding him. 'Don't worry, mommy. I won't finish unless you finish first,' he said in a low voice with his sweet smile.

Past that point, I don't know how long it lasted; past that point, I lost all track of time. The only thing in my mind was the pleasure I could feel.

We were both letting out cries. Sometimes, our eyes were closed, sometimes, they were open. Sometimes, we were looking at each other, sometimes, we were not. Every now and then, we held each other's hands or caressed each other on random spots. The speed of Uranuses thrusts was fluctuating so that our dreamy experience would be prolonged as much as possible. Neither of us was in haste to finish!

And my pleasure was increasing more and more, until… I could not hold it in anymore. The time had come to let out the final cry! I had to! The only thing in the world that mattered to me at that moment was to scream! And I screamed! Never before had my immortal larynx produced such a loud sound! Soon, Uranus also let out a scream, which mingled with mine. As our mixed screams reached my ears, I felt Uranuses fluid, the fluid of fertility, flooding my interior.

Uranus stuck his mouth to mine, thus interrupting my cries (which, by that moment, had scared away every animal within a radius of kilometers around the island). We closed our eyes. I was producing muffled sounds, desperately trying to let out the cries which Uranuses lips were preventing from coming out. With our eyes closed, our lips joined and our bodies tangled, we were rolling around on the bed while thrusting against each other, desperately trying to drain the remnants of the ultimate pleasure.

And, when everything was over beyond doubt, when our treasures could not do a single more contraction, when we had made sure that there was not a single speck of pleasure left to drain, our bodies parted.

We were now lying on our backs. We stayed like that for a while, taking deep breaths. Finally, Uranus closed his eyes, smiled widely and, with a really sweet 'mmm' sound, turned sideways, wrapped one arm around my abdomen and placed his head on my chest, using it as a pillow. Myself, keeping up a serious expression, I hugged him with one arm and softly kissed his hair.

We stayed cuddled up for a while. Then, Uranus opened his eyes. He caressed my foot with his and looked at me with a wonderful smile. Myself, with a serious expression, I was gazing at the starry sky. 'Mom?' the smiling boy asked.

It took a moment before I answered. 'What is it, honey?' I said, without taking my eyes off the stars.

'Why hadn't we done that before?' he asked. I did not respond. I chuckled. Taking a more serious expression, Uranus carried on: 'Why, all that time, had we been missing something so…' He made a pause, closed his eyes for a moment while taking a deep breath with pleasure and finished his sentence: '…wonderful?'

Once more, it took a moment before I answered. 'Sleep, honey,' I said in a low voice.

Uranus closed his eyes and smiled. 'Caress me, mommy,' he asked, pointing at the back of his neck.

This time, I took my eyes off the stars and looked at him with a comically angry expression. 'Uranus!' I snapped. 'Aren't all those things I did to you tonight enough? Now you also want me to caress the back of your neck?'

The giggling Uranus nodded with fast movements of his head, without opening his eyes. 'You are spoiled,' I said with a strict expression.

'I know!' he replied while keeping smiling with his eyes closed.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. I moved my other arm towards him and started caressing the nape of his neck with the nails of my exceptionally beautiful fingers. He started purring. 'I love you, mommy,' he whispered.

'I love you too, honey,' I replied.

Soon, Uranus had lapsed into a sweet slumber. I looked at him sleeping with his head on my chest and a smile of felicity on his face.

I had a serious and pensive expression. A mortal would say that the kind of relationship I had with Uranus was perverted. Of course, I am the supreme being, the rules of humans do not apply to me. But still, I was aware that, as you mortals perceive things, you would consider what I do with Uranus twisted.

On the other hand, I could see that, in the innocent mind of Uranus, who was sleeping at that moment, there were no such thoughts. It did not even occur to him that what we had done might be strange.

* * *

I woke up. Once more, night had been succeeded by the rays of my planet's magic light. Uranus was still sleeping with his head on my chest while still having the same joyous smile. It was the first morning after I and Uranus did you-know-what. I gently pushed him aside, being careful not to wake him up, and floated out of my island. After having my breakfast, I walked for a while and reached a canyon. Down below, there was a gorgeous valley crossed by a river. The morning rays of light made the spectacle even more breathtaking.

I smiled. I felt like painting. I materialized a canvas supported by an easel before me, a brush in one hand and a palette in the other. I began utilizing my talent for painting. (Basically, I have a talent for everything; don't forget that I am Gaia!)

Soon, I felt Uranuses presence. He was right behind me. He covered my eyes with his palms. I stopped drawing and sighed. 'Gosh! It's really hard to guess who it is!' I said ironically.

Uranus laughed and took his hands off my eyes. 'Mooorning,' he drawled with his sweet smile.

'Morning,' I reciprocated, without turning to him, being absorbed by my work.

'What are you doing?' Uranus asked, although the answer was obvious.

I smiled ironically, still without looking at him. 'Sowing beans,' I answered.

Uranus fell down laughing. 'HAHAHA… mommy… you're… HAHAHA… you're so funny,' he said while rolling on grass.

I put my painting aside for a moment and turned to him. 'Why don't you try painting something too?' I suggested.

'Good idea,' he exclaimed. He jumped to his feet and materialized a canvas, a brush and a palette. I got back to my painting while he started his.

'I'm done!' I exclaimed proudly, a long time later. I took a step back to admire my creation. Any mortal artist would envy me for it. Masterpiecious combinations of colors and shades, incredible detail, my painting had everything.

I turned to see what Uranus had made. The boy had lain down on grass in a prone position and was supporting his head with his palms. He had an idle smile. 'Done at last, mommy?' he asked. 'Myself, I finished a looong time ago.'

'Show me what you made, smartmouth,' I asked with a provocative smile.

Excitement returned to Uranuses face. He jumped to his feet. 'Are you ready to admire my masterpiece?' he asked theatrically.

'Sometime today,' I sighed, rolling my eyes.

Uranus turned his canvas to me and… my gorgeous, immortal eyes almost popped out! What was that thing? 'It is your portrait, the portrait of my beautiful mommy,' Uranus explained without waiting to be asked first. I had opened my mouth so wide that there was a chance it was dripping!

Uranuses creation looked like a painting made by a mortal child aged four at most! He had only used the color black. He had drawn a vertical line, which was supposed to be my body. Its lower end point was also the common upper end point of two oblique lines, which were supposed to be my legs. In about the middle of the vertical line, there was the common upper end point of two other oblique lines, which were supposed to be my arms. The upper end point of the vertical line touched the circumference of a circle (or should I say something like a circle) that was supposed to be my head. In the circle, two smudges (my eyes) and a curve (my mouth) made me look like a smiling retard! Uranuses 'masterpiece' was supplemented by my 'hair', two badly drawn ovals that intersected, framing my 'head'.

After my initial shock, I regained my smug expression and turned my canvas to him. 'Kid, look how it's done,' I said with a smirk.

Uranus stuck out his tongue as a sign of disapproval. I looked surprisedly at him. 'Sorry, mommy,' he started explaining with a smile, 'but what you made is not a painting. It's a photo.'

For a while, I was staring at him with a comical expression of anger, not knowing how to react. 'Shut up! My painting is perfect!' I finally yelled, stubbornly stomping my foot.

Uranus laughed. 'Whatever, that's enough painting for today. I'm going to occupy myself with something else,' he said and flew away.

So, we spent the rest of the day, sometimes together and sometimes apart. By sunset, I was lying in a grassy area, in a prone position, with my calves raised, building a puzzle. The flying Uranus appeared on the horizon. He landed next to me and knelt. 'Mommyyy,' he said with a meaningful smile.

'What is it?' I said, without looking at him, being absorbed by the puzzle.

'I'm hungry,' he answered.

I turned my head, baffled. 'So what, kid?' I asked. 'Go and eat.'

'You didn't understand me,' he laughed. 'When I say that I'm hungry, I'm not referring to food.'

'Then what are you referring to?' I asked. With an awkward but meaningful smile, Uranus slightly opened his legs and showed me his treasure. The cylinder was risen and the sack swollen.

'Uranus, I'm busy right now,' I sighed.

'Fine, I'm going,' he laughed uncomfortably. Even so, he stayed there for a few more moments, looking at me building the puzzle. 'Errr… tonight…' he enquired, 'will we… do it?'

I giggled. 'We will do it!' I said sweetly. Uranus jumped to his feet, raised his fist and let out a small squeal of delight. He flew away. I negatively shook my head, laughing.

* * *

It was night and I and Uranus were on my bed. The boy got off me, having just finished his thrusts. He lay down next to me in a lateral position, closed his eyes and smiled. 'Mmm, I'm good now,' he purred.

Myself, recumbent in a supine position, I laughed, hugged him and started caressing his black hair. I was gazing at the stars. 'Isn't the spectacle of the starry night magical?' I asked, at some point, my named after the sky offspring. No response. I turned my eyes and saw Uranus with his blissful smile. I realized he had fallen asleep! I laughed, kissed his hair and closed my eyes as well.

* * *

Over the following period, I and Uranus continued our jolly coexistence. Uranus did not vanish his island; he kept it, because we all want our own place from time to time. But he almost never slept there. Almost every night, he would come to my island and we would fall asleep in each other's arms after doing you-know-what with unbelievable passion.

Our relationship was not exactly what you mortals would call a mother son relationship. Nor was it exactly what you mortals would call a relationship between two people that share what I and Uranus shared at night. It was a kind of relationship unique to us, a kind of relationship that you mortals could never understand, nor do you need to understand, since I and Uranus answer to no one.

And, of course, as I have already told you, the innocent Uranus never imagined that our relationship was even slightly strange. On the contrary, in his mind, that activity was connected to motherly love! One time, when I was teaching him about the world of mortals, I showed him, on the immaterial screen, some of the most beautiful mortal women. Then, I asked him whether he wanted to do with any of those what he did with me at night. He smiled and answered, 'Of course not. You are my mommy, not them.' And he said that as if he was saying the most normal thing in the world! I admit that the way that simple minded creature thinks surprises even me sometimes!


	8. The Promise

It started as a usual day. Uranus was lying in a prone position on the sunny grass, supporting his head with his palms, and watching me teaching him about the world of mortals as usual. Before him, I was pacing back and forth. Pointing a ruler I was holding at the immaterial screens, I would highlight the most important information.

I stopped when I realized that Uranus had let his arms fall and burrowed his face in the grass. I vanished the immaterial screens and the ruler and approached my offspring. I lifted his head with the bridge of my foot, thus forcing him to look at me. He had an expression of total boredom. He moaned. 'What is the matter, Uranus? Is the stuff I am teaching you that boring?' I asked, with a strict expression and my arms crossed.

'No, mommy, don't get me wrong, it's all really interesting,' he said with a sleepy expression while standing up. 'It's just that… all this time, you've been telling me about that world where mortals live, but I haven't gone to see that world yet.'

Darn it! I should have expected that this would happen someday, that Uranus would want to go and explore the planet of mortals! I knew from my last visit there that mortals were not friendly at all to us individuals of the immortal kind. More specifically, my Uranus would not even last ten minutes with them. He was so sweet and innocent that he would do nothing to defend himself! They would eat him alive! 'Uranus, forget it. You are not ready to go there yet,' I said determinedly.

'Why not?' he complained. 'You have taught me a lot of stuff.'

I sighed. 'Uranus,' I tried again, more softly. 'You know that I am your mother. You know that I want you to feel good. To be happy. Do you doubt this?'

'Of course not!' he abruptly said.

'Then trust me,' I continued. 'I know infinitely more than you. If I say you're not ready, you're not. It would be bad for you to go there as you are now.'

'But I'm tired of waiting,' he complained cutely.

'That's enough,' I snapped. 'If you approach the planet of mortals, you are punished.'

'Oh!' he laughed.

That would not be the first time I punished him. As I have told you, I could never get really angry with him. But, whenever he overdid it with his childish behavior, I would punish him by depriving him of our night time activity. Usually, I would punish him for two or three days, one week at most. Uranus never took it hard. Whenever I punished him, he would just playfully pout and say 'you are mean' or something like that, but I could feel that he was not holding a grudge. Actually, it annoyed me a little that nothing upset him; punishments are supposed to be unpleasant. This is their purpose! In any case, I had noticed that, during the days of his punishments, he would not resort to the old substitute. This was further indicated by his swollen treasure during those days! He would restrain his urges and, after the end of every punishment, cut loose like a wild animal! Anyway, if he disobeyed me this time, the punishment would be heavy. 'One month!' I declared, placing my palm on my treasure for emphasis. 'If I catch you anywhere near the planet of mortals, forget you-know-what for one month!'

Uranus took his playfully sad expression again. 'You are rough, mommy,' he playfully complained. 'You have never punished me for one month.'

'Don't say I did not warn you!' I insisted with an intense expression. Uranus lowered his eyes for a moment. Next, he looked at me again and smiled.

'Okay, mommy, I got it,' he said. 'So… I'm going now.' He got away at supernatural speed (well, supernatural by your own standards, mortals). I knew that he intended to disobey me! For me, the almighty Gaia, reading someone's mind is simple. Uranus, of course, did not know about this ability of mine and thought he could hide his thoughts from me! Nor did he know about my ability to become immaterial. After waiting for him to get far enough, I vanished my material body and ran behind him. I easily reached a speed higher than his and caught up with him.

Uranus stopped. He looked around to make sure I was not nearby. After making sure (tee hee hee, little did he know), he soared into outer space, heading to your planet, mortals. I flew behind him. Since he wanted that badly to go there, I would not try to stop him. I would let him get into trouble. I would be watching him while in my immaterial form. And, when he got into trouble, I would show myself to save him. And, then, it would be one month before he felt pleasure in his treasure again! The joke was on him!

* * *

Uranus landed in a steppe of the planet of mortals. For those who do not know what a steppe looks like, I shall describe it right now. Ground that alternates between soil and sparse grass. Here and there, there are herbaceous, drought tolerant plants. The fauna includes large herbivores, such as deer and bisons, birds and rodents. Speaking of rodents, soon after Uranuses landing, a chubby rodent with light brown fur came out of a hole in the ground (there are many holes in the ground of a steppe). It exchanged looks with Uranus. If it was some mortal instead of Uranus, the rodent would have run away in the blink of an eye. But, myself and Uranus, the individuals of the immortal kind, not only do we have the respect even of the largest animals, but also we are not feared, even by the smallest ones. Thanks to their instinct, they can feel that we do not pose the slightest threat to them.

'Oh, hey,' Uranus cried excitedly. Instantly, he materialized a piece of delectable, yellow cheese before the rodent. The little creature tucked into it. Uranus laughed. Meanwhile, I realized that the forementioned rodent was an advanced age; it did not have much life left.

After getting sated, the grateful, little animal approached Uranus and tried to climb his legs. My boy laughed again. He crouched and cradled the rodent. 'Wanna come with me, mouse?' he asked.

'It's a hamster, idiot,' I said in my head. Anyway, the hamster was just staring at him with its sweet, little eyes, which Uranus interpreted as an affirmative answer. He released one arm, cradling the hamster only with the other, materialized a small box, opened it and put the hamster inside.

'Stay in there for a while, my little one, and, when I get back to my planet, I will show you its beauties,' he said tenderly. The hamster was calm. It did not try to get out of the box. It knew it was not in danger. It knew that Uranus did not intend to imprison it as you mortals do to little pets due to your characteristic insensitivity. It knew that Uranus had only temporarily put it in there to carry it.

Uranus closed the box and began the exploration of the steppe. I was still behind him, in my immaterial version. If he met any humans, he would have no problem communicating with them. Like me, he had been born with the knowledge of all human languages. Furthermore, I had taught him about mortals' habit of covering their bodies with those fabrications they call clothes, so he would not be baffled to see them like that. And, of course, just because Uranuses powers are nothing compared to mine, it does not mean that he is so weak as to be in danger from humans! If he went through an ordeal, it would be because of his sweet character, which would prevent him from fighting back.

A horde of warriors appeared on the horizon. They were riding white horses. Uranus stood up and looked curiously at them approaching. They were wearing white, sleeveless, fur coats, which red sleeves protruded out of and which went to their brown boots. They were also wearing fur hats with white brims and black crowns. Each warrior was holding a spear. Each fur coat had a black strap, with a back scabbard, diagonally tied around it. One of the warriors preceded the others, which indicated he was the leader. His hat had a wider and more imposing brim than the others'. Also, there were some black strands of hair on top of its crown. All the warriors had swollen cheeks and eyes with epicanthic folds and most of them (including the leader) had a beard.

When they reached Uranus, the leader turned his head and beckoned to the horde to halt. Everybody looked at my offspring with their eyes bulging with surprise. Uranus smiled and greeted them, raising his palm with fingers together. 'Hey,' he said kindly.

'By the gods!' their leader exclaimed. 'A naked boy in the middle of the steppe! Khan would never believe this!'

'Commander, will we set up our yurts here?' a soldier asked the leader.

'Yes,' he answered. 'As for the whelp, tie him up and take him to your yurt. When we return to the palace, the great Khan shall decide his fate.'

Two soldiers dismounted from their horses and charged at Uranus, holding a thick, durable rope. Uranus sensed their threatening intentions and his eyes bulged. 'What… what are you doing?' he said, terrified, as the two sturdy men grabbed him and tied him up. 'I did… I did nothing to you.'

The men noticed the box Uranus was holding. They snatched it. 'No, please, don't take that,' Uranus screamed, but one of the two soldiers hushed him with a hard slap.

'Commander, he was carrying this,' the other soldier informed the leader, showing him the box. The commander took it and opened it curiously. The hamster inside looked at him, paralyzed with fear. Its eyes were bulging and it was breathing heavily.

'This is a really good snack,' the commander said with a horrifying smile and closed the box. 'Khan's purebred cats will appreciate it.'

Soon, the place had got full of the yurts of the encampment that the horde had set up. They were large tents made of skins, with triangular roofs. I decided to enter the yurt where Uranus was being held captive. Due to my immaterial state, there was no need to open the entrance to enter. I simply walked through it as if I was a ghost!

Inside, next to a rudimentary bed and some personal possessions of the soldier, I saw the tied up Uranus. His eyes made it obvious that he was petrified. 'It serves you right, Uranus,' I said in my head.

Soon, a soldier came in. 'Please, let me go,' Uranus said imploringly. Actually, Uranus did have the power to leave. No mortal could ever release himself while being tied up with thick and durable ropes and as tightly as Uranus was at that moment. But, just as my muscular strength greatly surpasses that of Uranus, Uranuses muscular strength greatly surpasses that of mortals. Truly, he could break the ropes as if they were made of wet paper. It was just that he was such a mild character and so terrified at that moment that he did not dare to put up the slightest resistance. The soldier gave him a mocking look.

'Listen, kid,' he said. 'I dunno why you are walking around naked or what's wrong in your head. I don't know who you are or where you come from. But, whatever your homeland is, I advise you to forget it. You'll probably never see it again. It is certain that Khan will integrate you into his army. From now on, for the rest of your life, the only things you will be doing are eat, sleep and fight. Get used to it.'

Uranus looked at him, confused. He must not have understood much; as I have told you, I never taught him about armies or wars. 'Li… listen,' my boy tried again, with terror still apparent in his voice. 'I don't get what you mean. Why are you doing this to me? If I unintentionally did something that annoyed you, I apologize. Please, forgive me. Let me go, I'm begging you.' Uranuses eyes had started getting wet. The soldier looked at him and laughed.

'You know what?' he said. 'With all these campaigns of Khan's, I can't recall the last time I got laid.' And, taking a horrifying expression, he continued, 'I guess you know that, in a lack of women, many men will settle for boys. Especially boys as handsome as you…'

He started pacing slowly towards Uranus, whose eyes bulged in terror. 'What… what do you mean?' my son stammered.

The warrior forced Uranuses belly to the floor and knelt behind him. He grabbed the boy's glutes. 'Mmm, what an ass this is,' he said in pleasure.

'NO… PLEASE,' Uranus screamed. The soldier raised his fur coat, lowered his yellow trousers and revealed his treasure. Small and flabby. Actually, I should not call that thing a treasure; it is disparaging to real treasures.

In the meantime, Uranus had burst into tears. He was crying like an infant! That did it! That soldier had gone too far! There was no way I would let him do what he intended to do to Uranus! Sure I had wanted my son to take a lesson for disobeying me. But he did not deserve something like that! Instantly, I returned to my material state and, at the same time, thundered, 'STOP!'

The soldier jumped to his feet and looked at me, surprised. The still fallen Uranus turned and looked at me as well, with his eyes full of tears. I was tightening my fists. I was breathing heavily and growling in anger. 'If you lay your filthy hands on my offspring again, I'll cut them off,' I said, with my voice distorted with rage.

The soldier soon recovered from his surprise and laughed. 'Your offspring?' he asked. 'Are you nuts? How old were you when you gave birth to him? Two months old?'

I lowered my eyes, pensive. I could wipe out that horde of scum in thousands of creative and unbelievably violent ways! And they deserved it! But I did not want to do that in the presence of the innocent soul of my Uranus. Unfortunately, I had to restrict myself to only scaring them. The soldier interrupted my thoughts: 'Anyway, it is more than certain that Khan will want a woman of such beauty for his collection. I'm gonna tie you up and report you to the commander…'

His words and pacing towards me were interrupted by my scream. I had clenched my fists, moved my head upwards and closed my eyes. I was letting out the loudest voice that my immortal lungs can produce. My voice was distorted, but not by rage this time; there was something eerie about it. A powerful earthquake struck, making the soldier get down on the ground out of fear.

Magically, the yurts got blown away. All the eyes turned to me. The horses had panicked and were trying to break free from their restraints and run away; some of them did so. The men were staring at me, immobilized by fear.

I took a stern expression and raised my arms high. I commanded all air masses around to approach. They obeyed. How could they not obey my will? As a result, a typhoon was formed. The soldiers were trying to cling to anything they could find in order not to get blown away.

The sky got covered by black clouds. Lightning strikes were producing thunders. Flocks of birds were flying away, terrified. I raised my dazzlingly beautiful body a few meters above the ground. My eyes started glowing, so brightly that their pupils and sclera faded; they were now emitting an azure light. Ignoring the wind, my hair rose and spread out. 'Mortals!' I yelled.

My voice, which remained eerily distorted, resonated across the steppe as if there were huge loudspeakers. I continued, 'Why do you all insist on being so idiotic? I am the almighty Gaia, dammit. I can destroy the whole creation, merely on a whim. BOW BEFORE ME!' The men knelt and placed their faces on the ground. They stayed like that, not daring to move.

The clouds went away. The typhoon subsided. My eyes became normal again and my hair fell around my shoulders. I let out a cute sigh, with my voice back at its normal, delicate quality.

I landed next to the fallen Uranus. I extended my index finger and fired a laser ray. Due to my amazing accuracy and precision, the beam tore the ropes without touching Uranus at all. I knelt next to him. 'Are you all right?' I tried to say, but, before I could finish the sentence, the full of tears Uranus fell into my arms, sobbing.

After my initial surprise, I hugged him softly. He was crying like a little child. That reminded me that he was a child indeed! How could I forget it? He may have an adult body, adult urges, adult mental and talking capabilities, but, inside, he was only a child! An innocent child that had just got the scare of his life! That moment, I regretted not intervening to help him earlier. I regretted letting him receive such a fright. He did not deserve to go through that. 'Calm down, kid,' I whispered tenderly. 'Calm down, sweetie. Calm down. It's all over.'

I hugged him some more, till he calmed down. Next, I gently moved him off me and, holding him by the shoulders, looked him in his wet, green eyes. I smiled at him. 'Come on, let's go home,' I said sweetly.

Uranuses eyes widened. 'Wait,' he said abruptly. 'They took my mouse.' I sighed. I stood up. The men were still in the same kneeling position, paralyzed with fear.

I walked towards the commander. 'Psst, dude,' I said with an attitude, kicking him to draw his attention. He tentatively opened his eyes and raised them to me. 'Give back the box you took,' I asked imperatively. Panicked, he sat up, took out the box, which he had been keeping beneath his white, fur coat, and, without standing up, extended his arm towards me.

I took the box, walked over back to Uranus and gave it to him. He stood up and took it, with his smile having returned, even though his tears had not dried yet. He closed his eyes and, smiling, rocked the box in his arms.

'Shall we go?' I asked. He looked at me with a smile and nodded. I held him by the shoulder and teleported with him back to our planet.

Once more, we were in the idyllic, grassy landscapes of our home. Uranus got down on one knee, opened the box, took out the hamster and placed it softly on the ground. 'Go to explore your new home,' he said sweetly. 'You'll like it. You'll see.' The hamster got away while Uranus was looking at it, smiling. What a sweet scene! I knelt next to him.

I and Uranus turned to each other. We exchanged looks, kneeling across from each other. Uranuses face clouded over. He looked down for a while, then back at me. 'Am I punished, mommy?' he asked.

My silky fingers crossed his bangs, offering him a caress. 'No, honey, you're not,' I said. 'You went through enough.'

Uranus smiled at me. A smile full of innocence but also full of meaning! I understood what he wanted! And how could I deny it to him at that moment? How could I deny anything to him at that moment? I laughed. 'Come here,' I whispered and, right after that, grabbed him by the neck and stuck my lips to his.

This time, we did not bother going to my bed! We fell on the grass, engaging in our activity there. Some animals gathered round and started watching us. We carried on, without minding them.

* * *

Over the following days, Uranus had fun playing with his hamster. Until the day came when the inevitable happened…

It was a morning I was lying on the grass of a hill, in a prone position, in front of a laptop, playing chess with the central processing unit while unconsciously crossing and uncrossing my raised calves. In the past, I had tried to make Uranus interested in this game, but he found it 'too complicated' and decided that he preferred playing cards. No problem; the computer is a much better opponent than Uranus anyway. If I am not mistaken, the most powerful computers that you mortals know can calculate several millions of chess movements per second. Well, even this capability is nothing compared to the number of chess movements that my own brain can calculate in one second! The computer stood no chance!

Anyway, to get to the point, the game was interrupted by an approaching Uranus. His face was clouded over. He knelt next to me and showed me the hamster in his palms. The rodent was totally motionless and its eyes were closed. 'What's wrong with the mouse, mommy?' my son asked. 'I was going to play with it as every day, but it just won't wake up.'

Darn it! This would be hard! I sighed. I got on my knees and turned to Uranus. Unfortunately, I could no longer avoid it. I had to explain to him the concept of death, a concept so alien to his innocent mind...

'Listen, sweetie,' I said, caressing him. 'The creatures from the planet of mortals are not like us. There comes a day when they fall asleep and never wake up again, that is to say, they die.'

I stayed silent for a few moments, letting my words sink in. My boy looked at the ground. Then back at me. He had a perplexed expression. 'You... you... you mean they have dreams forever?' he asked.

'No, kid,' I answered with a compassionate expression while keeping caressing him. 'After someone dies, they have no dreams.'

'You mean... you mean it's the same as if they don't exist anymore?' Uranus cried.

I awkwardly turned my eyes elsewhere. 'Something like that,' I answered in a really low voice, almost a whisper.

'But... but this is unfair,' Uranus cried. He leaned towards me, placing his palms on the ground and supporting his body with them. 'Mommy, you, who know everything, tell me, what is the reason for this injustice?' he asked with grievance.

I sighed. I looked at him again. I stood up. I began explaining that, in contrast to us, mortal creatures need to breath and be nourished in order not to die; they don't do those things merely for their pleasure like us. I explained to him that, however, breathing and nutrition are killing them slowly, by wearing out and weakening their bodies. The kneeling Uranus was listening carefully to me. In the end, for a better understanding of the things I had said, I conjured an immaterial screen showing an aged person. 'Can you see what a worn out, mortal body looks like?' I showed him. 'The hair whitens and the skin gets full of lines. As a mortal body ages, it becomes weaker and weaker, it has greater difficulty waking up every time it sleeps, until it never wakes up again.'

'This is horrible!' Uranus exclaimed, upset by what he saw. He lowered his head.

I vanished the screen when I heard his sobs. I went close to him and knelt. 'Come on, try not to think about it,' I suggested with a tender smile, trying to cheer him up.

'How can I not think about it?' he asked and looked at me with his eyes full of tears. 'How can I enjoy my life now that I know that mortals suffer? It's so… UNFAIR.'

He burst into tears once more. I remained silent. I did not know how to answer. He looked at me again. 'Tell me, mommy,' he said. 'Who made the world of mortals? Who doomed them to such a torture? What sadistic soul did that?'

I remained silent some more, staring at his sad eyes. I did not dare to confess that that 'sadistic soul' was me! Finally, I took a deep breath and said, 'Listen, Uranus. One day, all mortal creatures that died shall wake up again, in new bodies, which will be incorruptible like ours. And they shall live here with us, on the planet of immortals. There will come a day when all creatures that ever existed shall live together, happily, without anyone suffering anymore!'

Uranus widened his wet eyes. 'Really?' he asked with an expression of innocence and hope.

'Really,' I smiled sweetly at him.

'Promise?' he asked while smiling, with his eyes still wet, extended his pinky and bent it, thus asking for a 'promise' handshake.

I laughed. 'I promise,' I said and reciprocated the handshake by bending my pinky and joining it to his.


	9. The Second Birth

So, several months passed since I and Uranus started doing that thing that two mortals of opposite genders do when they come close to each other. Until there came the day when I would receive the biggest surprise of my life.

It was almost dawn. As usual, I and Uranus were sleeping in each other's arms. Suddenly, with an abrupt movement, I sat up, upset. I looked at Uranus. He was still sleeping, unaware of me having moved. I was pensive. My feet touched the ground. What had woken me up so suddenly? Had I felt something?

The next moment, I realized what I had felt. I looked at my silky belly. That couldn't be true! Yet I could feel it beyond doubt! There was a living thing inside me!

'Of course not! What are you thinking, girl?' I whisperingly scolded myself. I floated out of my island and rose a few tens of meters above ground. I hovered, gazing at the dark sky, which was slowly getting bright. What a beautiful spectacle! It was a good way to forget about my stupid thoughts. Because, as I kept telling myself, they were just stupid thoughts. Me, Gaia, I can reproduce parthenogenetically whenever I want to. I am not like mortal women, who… Wait a minute! Come to think of it, just because I can magically impregnate myself does not mean that I cannot also get pregnant in the same way that mortal women do! Those two abilities are not mutually exclusive! That moment, came the realization of the truth! My eyes widened!

'I'M AN IDIOT,' I yelled. In a state of rage, I soared into outer space. I reached close to an uninhabited planet, one of those that mortal astronomers classify as giants. With a scream of rage (which was never heard, since, in outer space, there is no medium for sound to propagate through), I extended my arm, opened my hand and fired a blast that turned the whole planet into cosmic dust!

That was absurd! Totally absurd! Yet it had happened! I, the almighty Gaia, had got pregnant by accident! As if I was a stupid, mortal, teenage girl!

I calmed down. I turned around and began flying, slowly now, back to my planet. I had to tell Uranus sooner or later. At least this would not be a problem. Uranus had no idea about the connection between childbearing and that thing we did at night. Therefore, there was no way he would ever suspect that my pregnancy was something that he had caused!

By the time I was back on my planet, it was morning. I landed next to Uranus, who was sitting under a chocolate tree and eating a bar of chocolate, with strawberry flavored filling, that had been in a red wrapper. (He had created many chocolate trees; some of them had bars of chocolate with crisped rice, others had bars of chocolate with walnuts, others had bars of plain milk chocolate etc.) As soon as he saw me, he smiled at me and patted the ground, thus beckoning to me to sit next to him. 'Come on, mommy,' he said. 'Cut off a bar and have your breakfast with me.'

'No, thank you,' I answered.

'Let me guess,' Uranus said with a teasing smile. 'You prefer eating your uncool fruit?'

'There is something I need to tell you,' I said, kneeling next to him.

Uranus got on his knees, opposite me. 'What is it, mommy?' he asked sweetly.

I looked at him. His sweet smile was soothing! Well, I guessed there was no need to procrastinate. The best way to say it was to just say it! I placed my hands on my abdomen. 'I'm pregnant,' I said simply.

Uranus looked seriously at me for a few moments, until what I had said sank in. Next, he smiled widely, with his mouth open. 'Really?' he cried cheerfully. 'You mean you're gonna have my sibling?'

He lowered his upper body and hugged me, placing his head on my belly. His eyes and mouth were now closed and he was still smiling. I laughed and hugged him back, without lowering my upper body. Oh, Uranus! He was the living manifestation of innocence!

Suddenly, Uranus withdrew his head from my belly. Still hugging me, he raised his eyes to me, with an expression of puzzlement. 'Tell me something, mommy,' he began. 'You once told me that I have no daddy. Shall I assume that, logically, neither does my sibling?'

That moment, I realized it! Not that I did not know it already, but knowing and realizing are two different things. Since Uranus was the one that had caused my pregnancy, he was not only the brother of that offspring; he was also the… No, I decided not to tell him that! I was afraid that, if I told him, he might lose his innocence. Even unconsciously, even little by little, he might lose his innocence if, in his mind, he assumed such a role. Besides, why did he need to know anyway? So, the answer that finally came out of my mouth was the following: 'You guessed right, honey. Neither does your sibling have a father.'

Uranus kept looking at me for one more moment. Next, he smiled again, shrugged, closed his eyes and placed his head on my belly again. I laughed, caressed him and kissed his hair.

* * *

As the days of my pregnancy went by, Uranus seemed more excited every day. Myself, though, I had a bad feeling I could not define. All those wonderful feelings that flooded me during my first pregnancy were now absent. For some reason, I could not feel bonded with that child.

As time passed and the new life developed inside me, I started to realize the nature of my concern. I realized that that offspring would be born with knowledge and power far superior to those of Uranus. (Not, of course, that it would ever reach omnipotence or omniscience; I have told you that these are privileges exclusive to me.) At the same time, though, in the heart of that creature that I was carrying, I sensed something… dark… something that made me feel uneasy.

One time, when I was flying in outer space, with my arms crossed, contemplating my premonitions, I reached the solar system where the planet of mortals was. Then, I laid eyes on a planet different from most. It had a yellow hue. Around it, there was a series of concentric rings consisting of crystals of ice and cosmic dust. It was then that I decided that the child I would give birth to would be named after that planet: Cronus!

* * *

I woke up. Uranus was not on the bed. Don't tell me that snoozer had woken up before me! This was a first!

Uranus emerged from the vegetation. As soon as he saw I was awake, his face became bright with joy. 'Mom, do you know what day it is?' he asked, full of enthusiasm.

I stretched, smiling. 'The day I will spank some sense into you?' I asked.

'It's the day you will give birth!' he continued, still excited, ignoring my remark. He came close to me and started pulling my arms, trying to get me off the bed.

'Calm down! I'm getting up,' I said, laughing. I floated out of my island. Uranus flew behind me. As I did the first time I delivered, I landed in an open field so that I had plenty of room for the process. I noticed that, as opposed to the previous labor, this time, no animals had gathered around! This troubled me. Uranus, on the other hand, did not seem to have noticed!

'Come on, mommy, begin,' he said, bouncing in excitement. 'Comeoncomeoncomeon…'

I placed my palm on his mouth while, with the other hand, I held him by the shoulder to make him stop bouncing. I looked seriously at him. 'Uranus! Calm down!' I said. Uranus nodded. Although his mouth was still covered with my palm, I could tell from the look in his eyes that he kept smiling.

'Step back a little to give me space,' I said slowly. Uranus took two steps back, smiling. I opened my legs and… Well, you already know how it goes. An egg slowly came out of my treasure and fell on the ground.

'Wow,' Uranus said. I took two steps backwards. The egg began increasing in size. Troubled, I noticed that, in contrast to the egg Uranus came out of, it was not emitting a golden light; it was emitting a black light! No matter how strange the term 'black light' sounds! When the egg reached the size it was supposed to, it was smashed and the smithereens scattered, revealing the curled up, sleeping Cronus.

He had tawny hair, parted in the middle, and, as is the case with every individual of the immortal kind, his face was spared the grotesque trait called beard, which almost all male mortals have. He opened his brown eyes, the piercing look in which did not show the slightest surprise. He stood up. He was taller and more muscular than Uranus. He did not bother exploring his surroundings with his eyes as Uranus did during the first moments of his life. 'I am Cronus,' he said coldly, without seeming to be addressing anyone in particular.

He looked at us. 'And you are my mother, Gaia,' he said to me.

'And I am your brother, Uranus,' my firstborn cheerfully interjected. He ran to hug Cronus.

'Hah!' the taller offspring whispered with contempt. At supernatural speed, he rotated his body 90 degrees while taking two steps backwards. As a result, Uranus hugged thin air instead and fell face down on the ground.

A moment of silence followed. Myself, I was speechless at Cronuses rudeness. My newborn son was looking at the fallen Uranus, with his arms crossed and an indifferent expression. Due to his always good mood, my first son jumped to his feet and burst into laughter, finding the last incident funny.

'You are not only my brother,' Cronus started speaking. 'You are also my…'

'STOP,' I interrupted him. Both Uranus and Cronus froze and looked at me with their eyes widened. One more moment of silence.

'Mommy, why did you yell at him?' Uranus asked with a confused expression. 'Did he do something bad?'

'Uranus, leave me alone with your brother for a while,' I asked him. Uranus kept staring at me, with the same puzzled expression. 'Now!' I insisted, calmly but imperatively. With no more buts, Uranus flew away.

I turned to Cronus. 'You will never tell him that! Understood?' I said.

'Why?' he asked impudently.

'Because I say so!' I answered abruptly. 'I may be your mother, but I am also the supreme being. My will is above all else!'

'How can you do something so sickening with him?' he asked scornfully. 'Okay, himself, he is retarded, so he can't be held responsible for his deeds. But what about you? How can you do such a thing with your son, mother? I don't even know whether I should call you mother or grandmother; because, in case you haven't realized, you're both to me!'

I took a breath, feeling that I had started losing my patience. 'First of all,' I started, 'Uranus is not retarded. He is pretty smart! It's just that his soul is untarnished. Secondly, what I do with him is none of your business. Lastly, I advise you to never again call me, the ageless Gaia, a grandmother.'

Cronus lowered his eyes. He clenched his fists and growled. He was angry, I could feel it. His pride made him feel humiliated that someone dared to talk to him like that. However, due to his reason, he was aware that it would not be smart to start a physical fight with me.

'Listen, Cronus,' I started again, more calmly this time. 'It is obvious that you like neither me nor Uranus. It is okay, you are not obliged to socialize with us. Find something to keep yourself occupied and let me and Uranus do our own stuff. You shall not bother us, we shall not bother you and there shall be no problem. Agreed?'

Cronus stayed silent for a moment. Next, he turned around and flew away.

* * *

That night, I was idly lying on my bed, with my arms stretched over my head and my knees bent. I had ceased thinking about Cronus, having decided that it was his right not to want much contact with me or Uranus and there was no reason to be sad about it indefinitely. At that moment, I was contemplating another problem, a practical one. Perhaps you have already guessed what it was: how to not conceive any more children! My Uranus was uninhibited, so, unless I did something about it, in a few decades from then, I would have an army of offsprings!

Uranus emerged from the vegetation. 'Hey, mommy,' he said flatly and fell on the bed sideways, with a grim expression that made you want to hug him!

I turned sideways as well and caressed him. 'Are you gloomy?' I sweetly asked him.

'What have I done to him, mommy?' he asked, without moving or changing his expression. 'I have been trying to approach him all day, yet he keeps pushing me away.'

I sighed. 'Uranus,' I said softly while keeping caressing him, 'Cronus has his issues. Give him the time he needs to find himself. Leave him alone for a while.'

'Oookaaay,' Uranus said with boredom but in a cute fashion nonetheless.

'Cooome oon, don't think about it anymore,' I said with a playful smile, trying to cheer him up. 'Do me this favor.'

Uranus looked at me. He smiled meaningfully. He got on his knees. 'Fine… let's concentrate on something else,' he said, caressing my oblique muscle with his index finger. He slightly opened his legs to show me that his treasure was risen.

I laughed. I sat up and grabbed him by the neck. We fell on the bed and started kissing each other everywhere (well, everywhere except on those two or three body parts where kissing someone is not sensual at all).

Later, when Uranus was about to penetrate, I stopped him by placing my palm on his chest. He looked curiously at me. I rolled away from him and got on my knees. I laughed awkwardly. 'Err… yeah… about that,' I began. 'From now on, there will be a change.'

Uranus got on his knees too. 'Yaaay, changes are cool,' he exclaimed and started bouncing in enthusiasm.

I laughed. I opened my hand and materialized a small, square wrapper on my palm. I opened it by carefully tearing one of its corners and took out of it an oily, rolled up piece of rubber with a narrow tip. 'What are we gonna do with this thing, mommy?' the smiling Uranus asked.

'Stay still and I'll show you,' I whispered tenderly. I pinched the rubber's narrow tip with my silky fingers and, keeping it pinched, began unrolling the rest on Uranuses risen treasure.

He laughed. 'This seems fun,' he commented.

When I finished unrolling, I lay down in a supine position again, bent my knees, opened my legs and gave my hand to Uranus. 'Come on,' I said, smiling tenderly.

Uranus laughed, took my hand and lay down on me again. I wrapped my arms and legs around him. He penetrated and began thrusting.

However, after a few thrusts, he took out his treasure and got on his knees again. I raised my head and looked at him, baffled. 'Mommyyyyy,' he drawled with a cutely gloomy expression.

'What is it, honey?' I asked in puzzlement.

'It's not so fun after all,' he answered with the same expression.

'Come on, you'll get used to it,' I sighed. Uranus looked at me with puppy eyes. 'U-Uranus, don't stare at me like that,' I said, trying to sound strict.

Keeping up his 'puppy eyes' expression, Uranus began producing playful sobs. 'U-Uranus,' I tried again, gulping. 'Uranus, don't stare at me like that… Uranus, quit whining… Uranus, stop it… Uranus! Okay, you may take it off!'

Uranus bounced on his knees, with a small cry of joy. With a swift movement, he took the rubber off his treasure, got on me again, penetrated and started thrusting with wild passion.

Later, Uranus was sleeping peacefully next to me. Myself, I was awake and had a troubled expression. The question of how to stop conceiving kids was still an outstanding problem.

I floated out of my island. I walked in the silence of the night, until I reached a lake. How beautiful the waters were under the moonlight!

Anyway, I had to address the issue! Fortunately, I knew that, in the future, mortals would discover many ways of solving the problem I had at that moment. I materialized a circular pill card in my hand. 'I'd better start taking these right now,' I said inside my head.

I took a pill out of the card and put it in my mouth. Next, I crouched on the bank of the lake, took a handful of water and drank it, thus swallowing the pill.

* * *

Over the following period, Cronus was living his own life, having only minimal contact with me and Uranus. He would spend a large portion of his time on the planet of mortals. I had no problem with that. Born with knowledge superior to that of Uranus, he did not need to be taught anything about the world of mortals; he knew how to handle anything that might come up there.

During his visits to the planet of mortals, he would opt to cover his body with clothes like them so that he was better adapted to their world. Eventually, he began going around in clothes all the time, even on our planet. With my superior senses, I could tell that he deemed it humiliating to go around with his body exposed.

I never bothered reading his mind thoroughly, but I suspected that, during his excursions to the planet of mortals, he would do with many women what I did with Uranus. Not that it was my business anyway! As long as he did not bother me or my firstborn, he could do whatever he wanted to.


	10. Seduction

It was another lovely day on the planet of immortals. I was playing tennis with myself! I had materialized a net. Holding a racket, I would hit the ball, then move at superspeed to the other side of the court in order to deflect it. And, boy, I would counter every attack of my 'opponent'. I was performing supernatural jumps and other unbelievably skillful and sensual moves. Suddenly, I stopped. Due to my inconceivable to mortals awareness, I had a premonition that something bad would happen between my two offsprings. I turned invisible and immaterial and went to secretly check out the situation.

Cronus was looking at himself in a full length mirror. He was wearing clothes suitable for the era mortals were living in at that time: a yellow shirt, a brown vest with laces instead of buttons, green trousers and long, black boots.

Uranus emerged from behind a tree. 'Hey,' he said with a shy smile. Cronus mumbled something like a greeting, without turning to look at his brother. 'Errr... are you going to the planet of mortals?' Uranus tried again, awkwardly but kindly.

'Why do you care?' Cronus said abruptly while keeping looking at himself in the mirror.

Uranus stayed silent for a moment. He slightly lowered his eyes. 'Oookay,' he said with a smile of disappointment. He turned around to go away, having realized that one more attempt of his to approach Cronus had come to naught.

Then, an enigmatic smile was formed on my secondborn's lips. I knew why! He had just come up with an idea: to, so to speak, do an experiment on Uranus; to see his reaction.

My (immaterial at that moment) eyes bulged. Why had Cronus decided to do such a thing on that specific day? Basically, why had he decided to do such a thing at all? What did he expect to gain from those silly games? Nevertheless, I decided not to intervene yet.

'Uranus,' he called out and turned to him.

Uranus turned around abruptly, with his face now radiant with joy. 'Whatie?' he said cheerfully.

'How about coming with me to the planet of mortals?' Cronus suggested.

The smile faded from Uranuses lips. 'Err… dunno,' he said. 'Mom has told me not to go to that planet. And I have to admit that, the one and only time I disobeyed her and went there, I totally freaked out!'

'Don't worry. I'll be taking care of you,' Cronus replied with a comforting smile.

Uranus pondered it for a moment with a confused expression. Next, his innocent smile returned. 'Oh, alright then!' he said.

Cronus placed his hand on his brother's shoulder and teleported with him to the planet of mortals. Of course, I followed them, still in my immaterial state.

We teleported to a wonderful, flowering countryside, outside the walls of a city. 'In this city, you can find some of the best high end prostitutes,' Cronus explained. And, materializing a pouch full of golden coins in his hand, he carried on, 'And, with these, I'm going to buy the services of the best I can find.'

'Of all the things you said…' Uranus started with an impressed expression and, bursting into laughter, continued, '… I understood none!'

Cronus facepalmed. 'Never mind! Let's just say I've got a surprise for you,' he said.

'Yay, I love surprises,' Uranus started bouncing in enthusiasm.

Cronus sighed, rolling his brown eyes. He materialized a white tent behind them. 'Wait for me in there,' he asked Uranus. My firstborn obeyed. In the tent, there were two cots. The cheerful Uranus jumped onto one of them, ending up lying sideways. Whispering a song, he materialized a handheld video game console in his hand and began playing.

Later, when he heard voices, he vanished the console and raised his eyes. Cronus entered the tent, accompanied by two women. Both of them were very beautiful; I admit that, if I did not possess the ultimate beauty, I might be a little envious of them.

One of them had blue eyes and blonde hair, tied in a bun. She was wearing a blue, one piece, maxi dress that left exposed only her neck and a small part of her upper chest. Around the shoulders, the sleeves were puffed and had white stripes. Also, there were vertical, white stripes on the area covering the torso and horizontal ones on the skirt.

The other woman had long, black, loose hair and intense eyes of the same color. Her dress was the same design as the aforementioned one, but it was red color and had embroidery designs of golden flowers instead of stripes. Her eyes fell on Uranus. 'Hey,' he smiled at her.

She turned to Cronus. 'I see that your friend can't wait,' she said, laughing. 'He undressed already.'

'You take him,' he replied and started kissing the blonde woman.

The brunette looked at Uranus with her piercing eyes. Any mortal man would have got aroused, but Uranuses treasure had not even budged! 'So, boy, shall we begin?' she asked with a provocative smile.

Meanwhile, Cronus and the other woman had got on the other cot and were undressing little by little while kissing each other. Uranus did not seem to be paying attention to that.

'Okay,' he answered cheerfully. He got on his knees and patted the mattress, thus beckoning to her to sit. 'What do you want us to do? How about we play a board game?' he suggested sweetly.

Her expression became serious but remained provocative. 'Forget about board games,' she said and began revealing her flesh, slowly and sensually. Any mortal man would have gone mad with excitement by that point, but Uranuses treasure had not even budged! The boy was just staring cheerfully.

When she had fully undressed, she knelt on the bed, opposite Uranus, who unconsciously moved back to make room for her. 'If you don't like board games, we can play video games,' he suggested, smiling. 'I can materialize two Game Boys, a Game Link cable and two cartridges loaded with maxed out pokemon. Of course, training them to level one hundred by yourself is an irreplaceable experience, but…'

The brunette interrupted Uranus. Taking him by surprise, she grabbed his neck and stuck her lips to his. The boy's eyes bulged. After a moment which his brain needed in order to realize what was happening, he placed his hands on her shoulders, pushed them, thus pulling back, and jumped from the bed to his feet. 'What are you doing? You're not my mom!' he cried in surprise.

Cronus and the blonde woman, who had totally undressed in the meantime, stopped what they were doing and turned their heads. 'Wait a minute!' the black haired woman said, surprised. 'What did you just say? You mean that you are doing with your mother what I was about to do to you?'

Uranus nodded with his eyes widened, as if he was saying, 'Of course!'

'You're sick!' the brunette yelled.

Uranuses expression abruptly changed. He looked curiously at her. 'What does «sick» mean?' he asked, with a smile that made a comical contrast with the situation.

The brunette turned to the blonde. 'I have started freaking out here. Shall we leave?' she suggested. Cronus raised his eyes to the ceiling and mumbled some expletives.

'Guys, listen,' Uranus smiled. 'I haven't understood what happened here and spoiled your mood, but how about you chill and we play Pokemon Stadium all together?'

No sooner had he finished that sentence than he materialized a television and a video game console. The eyes of the two women bulged in terror, not only because Uranus had materialized something out of nowhere, but also because it was something that mortals hadn't invented yet. They grabbed their respective clothes and ran out of the tent, screaming.

Cronus jumped to his feet. He glared at the confused Uranus. 'ASSHOLE! You ruined everything,' he yelled.

'What did I do?' Uranus asked innocently.

'What did you do?' Cronus screamed, pacing threateningly towards him. 'I'll tell you what you did. You are mentally disabled. THAT'S WHAT YOU DID! The chick was right next to you, yet you didn't even get a boner. Do you get turned on only by your mother? PERVERT!'

'Li-listen,' a freaked out Uranus started. 'Honestly, I understand none of the things you are saying. If I did something...'

Uranus got interrupted. Cronus had knocked the wind out of him with a punch in the abdomen. Uranus widened his eyes, wide opened his mouth and knelt, holding his stomach in pain. However, Cronus was not done. He tightened his fist and pulled back his arm, about to hit his brother in the face with a hook punch. Before he could do it, though, he felt a grip on his arm. It was me. I had just rematerialized my body and grabbed him by the wrist. I had a haughty expression. 'Cronus, cut it out,' I said.

Cronus tried to escape, but it was impossible for him to budge me. If some mortal saw us at that moment, they would see a muscular man immobilized by a seemingly frail, female figure!

Then, in his rage, Cronus decided to try something else, something impetuous; he raised his other arm and elbowed me in the abdomen with all his strength! A strength nightmarish to you mortals!

If Cronus dealt that blow to a tyrannosaurus rex, the animal would drop dead! If he dealt it to a city wall, he would shatter it! If he dealt it to ground, he would cause earthquakes and tidal waves that would swallow entire continents! If he dealt it to Uranus, he would knock him unconscious!

But he dealt it to me! He turned his head to look at me and got an expression of total stupefaction when he realized that I was still standing, without even having loosened my grip, without even having winced! 'Are you done?' I asked indifferently.

The next moment, Cronuses expression was distorted with horror when he felt an unbelievable pain in the elbow he had hit me with! The blow he had dealt to me had injured only himself! He fell on the ground, writhing. I let go of his arm. 'You have crossed every line,' I said angrily, even though he was obviously still in too much pain to hear me.

Then, Uranus, who had recovered and stood up in the meantime, drew my attention by taking hold of my shoulder. 'Mommy, please, don't do anything to him,' he said softly.

I sighed. I placed my hand on Uranus, hastily teleported him back to our planet and, next, teleported myself back where Cronus was. He had begun recovering and standing up slowly. 'You brought this upon yourself,' I said. 'Who told you to bring him here? I thought you had enough knowledge to be aware that the planet of mortals is not a place suitable for Uranus.'

Closing this chapter, I feel the need to mention that, that day, the way Uranus reacted to that woman made me feel nice for some reason.


	11. Dark Beginning

After the previous chapter's events, myself, Uranus and Cronus continued living in the way that you know about already. So, a long time went by. Mortals' progress had reached the technological advances that you who are reading this story are familiar with.

At some point, I had happened to get pregnant one more time and given birth to a daughter, Aphrodite. Her hair was long, black and slightly wavy. In other respects, she looked like me, having my blue eyes and, of course, my impeccable body.

However, her demeanor was… (how can I say it?)… cold. No, I could not sense evil inside her as I could inside Cronus. It was just that she never showed any emotion.

Even though, like Cronus, she knew since birth what I did with Uranus at night (and, therefore, she knew since birth that Uranus was not just her brother), she never commented on it. She always treated me with respect, but, as I said, she never showed me love or tenderness.

I never saw her playing or having fun. She was interested only in things such as arts and sciences, 'serious things' as she said. She found Uranuses interests immature. She found Uranus himself immature! She avoided him as much as she could, without being rude like Cronus nonetheless. Uranus, on the other hand, would often try to play and joke around with her. Many times, he would tackle her and fall on the ground with her, to the girl's annoyance and his burst of laughter. I could feel, though, that Uranuses behaviour towards Aphrodite was totally innocent; Aphrodite, like all mortal women, did not awaken what I did in him.

Lastly, with Cronus, Aprhrodite did not have much interaction. Nor did they seem to have a problem with each other, though. Their relationship was neutral.

Anyway, no matter how different my kids were from one another, they had something in common. Can you guess what it was? You can't? Come on, think. Aw, you mortals are slow, aren't you? Fine, I'll tell you. All three of them were one dimensional. Me, the almighty Gaia, I have an exceptionally complex character, which is hard to understand, even for me sometimes. This was not the case for my kids, though. One would say that each of them had only a part of my personality. Uranus had my sensitivity and kindness. Aphrodite had my earnestness and maturity. Cronus had… a dark part of me. A part that I had been unaware existed. Or, to be honest, I had been fooling myself, pretending to be unaware, because I was scared about the idea that a side of myself might be like that.

However, as time passed, that dark side of me gradually surfaced. I could no longer ignore it. I could no longer close my eyes to the truth. Dark thoughts were coming into me and I could not banish them.

This change affected the way I saw Uranus as well. I had got tired of his childlike demeanor. In my eyes, he was no longer an innocent and wonderful child. He was a mentally disabled and irritating person. In other words, I had come to believe the same thing as Cronus!

Due to his developed powers, Cronus sensed that change inside me! And he decided to exploit it!

So, one time, when I was sitting on a rock, troubled and lost in my thoughts, Cronus approached me. He was dressed in garments that mortals preferred during an older era: a white tunic that left one shoulder exposed and golden sandals. (For some reason, at that time, he had got a thing about dressing like that.) 'Greetings, mother,' he said solemnly.

I looked grimly at him and greeted him with an indifferent nod.

'Mother,' he started again, with a compassionate expression. 'I know that you feel off lately. I can feel your sorrow. And, trust me, I understand you!'

'Really?' I said with a serious, gloomy and somewhat sarcastic expression.

'Really,' he insisted with a steady expression. 'We are creatures with powers that mortals shall never have, even in their wildest dreams. Isn't it a shame to waste our time here? Why not go to the planet of mortals and dominate them? Why not enjoy the glory we deserve?'

I lowered my eyes, pensive. Cronus tried again: 'I suppose you already know that I have always aspired to conquer the world of mortals. However, I knew I couldn't, because, if I attempted something like that, you would stop me. But, now that you have begun to wake up, now that you have begun to open your eyes, I was wondering whether I could… dunno… convince you…'

Once more, I remained silent. Cronus tried a third time: 'Trust me, mother, it will be much better than depressing ourselves in this miserable place. Think of how nice a feeling it would be to terrorize, to dominate, to enslave. A fantastic everyday life awaits us. You will be able to have any man you want. As for my mentally retarded brother, let him daydream here.'

My good side was telling me that I had taken the wrong path. But I could no longer hear it! I looked at my secondborn with determination. 'Okay,' I said.

Cronus smiled. 'Just give me some time to end things with Uranus,' I added. Cronus got an expression of annoyance. He did not seem to like the last thing I had said. He knew, though, that it was not in his interest to press me further at that point. So, with a reluctant nod, he flew away. After staying on the rock some more, I stood up. I remained still and pensive for a while. Finally, with a sigh, I flew away to find Uranus.

My firstborn was lying on grass in a lateral position, supporting his head with one palm, and watching something on television. When I landed next to him, he raised his eyes to me and smiled.

'Just in time, mommy,' he said with excitement and patted the ground with his other palm, thus beckoning to me to lie down. 'A soccer match is about to begin in the world of mortals. Sit and watch it along with me. You will be supporting City and I will be supporting United. Okay?'

'I'm not in the mood,' I said seriously.

'Fine, you can support United. I'll take City,' he said playfully.

'No, I didn't mean…' I said and, without finishing the sentence, sighed, rolling my eyes. My gaze back at Uranus. 'Vanish the television! We need to talk!' I snapped with annoyance.

Keeping up his smile, my son vanished the device and got on his knees. 'I'm all ears, mommy,' he said sweetly.

I sighed. No point in procrastinating! I placed my palm on my treasure to make sure he would understand what I was talking about. 'This won't happen again!' I said.

Uranus got serious. He gave me a look of puzzlement and disappointment. 'I'm punished again, mommy?' he said. 'Why? What have I done this time?'

'No, you are not punished,' I explained. 'We will just never do it again!'

Uranuses eyes widened. 'Never ever?' he asked in a low voice.

'Never EVER!' I repeated, in determination.

For the next moment, we exchanged looks, with my offsrping still having the same surprised expression. And, then… his expression changed abruptly! He burst into laughter! 'Yeah, right,' he said, laughing.

I clenched my fists and growled in annoyance. 'Uranus!' I yelled.

He looked at me again, struggling to repress his laughter and get a serious expression. However, no matter how hard he tried, he was still smiling, much to my annoyance! 'Uranus, I'm serious,' I said calmly. 'Forget about that thing! You shall get no more of it! Never again!'

'Okay,' he answered, nodding and smiling.

'Uranus, I'm absolutely serious!' I said, having started to lose my patience again.

'Well, I said ok. What more do you want me to tell you?' Uranus said, starting to laugh again.

I let out a small cry of annoyance and flew away so that I would not lose my temper before him.

* * *

Evening, a while before my bedtime. I was lying on my bed in a lateral position, supporting my head with one hand and browsing through a book with the other. It had been five days since I made it clear to Uranus. As opposed to what you probably expected, he hadn't made a move since then! Myself, though, I knew that he was waiting for me to get deprived and weak, curse him!

And, truly, I had started missing that deed! I felt so turned on! And the thought that I should never do that thing with Uranus again increased my arousal! I was apprehensive. I could by no means concentrate on my read!

I was more vulnerable than ever! And, unfortunately for me, it was then that Uranus decided to make his move! I sensed him approaching! I bit my lower lip, kinda irritated and… totally stimulated! I raised my eyes, sighing. The always smiling Uranus emerged from the bushes. 'Peek a boo,' he said.

'I'm gonna hurt you,' I said, laughing irritatedly and raising my eyes to the starry sky.

My son knelt on the edge of the bed. 'What are you reading, mommy?' he asked, smiling.

'Uranus, what do you want?' I asked intensely while forcefully closing the book. 'I thought I was clear. That thing we used to do shall never happen again!'

'So what? Can't I just visit my mommy?' he said, laughing. Next, he got serious abruptly. He leaned forward, got down on all fours and gave me a piercing, seductive look. Oh, these eyes… No, I would not succumb!

With a quick roll of my body, I jumped from the bed to my feet. I took two steps backwards while looking at Uranus. I crossed my arms. 'Uranus, quit your silly games and go away!' I said strictly.

Uranus turned to me and smiled again, keeping up his charming expression, though. 'You really want me to leave?' he said playfully. I slightly gulped, but, in every other way, I did not move a milimeter. My arms remained crossed and my expression determined. Uranus stood up and began pacing slowly towards me, with a look full of meaning!

'Don't-even-think about it!' I declared with a firmly strict expression.

'To not even think about it?' he asked while laughing and approaching.

'Don't-even-think about it!' I repeated with the same expression.

Uranus had reached me. With a quick movement that caught me by surprise, he went behind me and moved my hair aside. 'To not even think about it, mommy?' he asked in a low voice, caressing my neck with his nails, thus awakening my sensations.

'Don't… even think about it,' I said, now with obvious uncertainty in my voice, as his nails crossed this full of nerve endings part of my body.

Uranus began kissing my neck. I closed my eyes and bit my lips. 'Don't… even… thi… think about it,' I whispered, breathing heavily. His lips were ascending towards the area behind my ear. Darn it! It was so good! I may be the almighty Gaia, but, whenever Uranus kisses me on the neck, I'm nothing but a weak girl! 'Uranus… ple… please… stop…' I said, with my eyes closed, in a voice that could barely be heard. Uranus hushed me by covering my mouth with his. We fell on the bed while in each other's arms, caressing and kissing each other.

'Mmmmm!' Uranus moaned in joy, much, much later, when he got off me, having emptied an enormous amount of fluid in my treasure. My screams that night had probably been heard everywhere on my planet! With his eyes closed and a smile from ear to ear, Uranus rested his head on my chest.

Unconsciously, I started caressing him. 'Uranus,' I said after a while. 'That was the last time. This is not going to happen again.'

'Whatever you say!' he said, still smiling with his eyes closed.

'Uranus, I'm serious!' I insisted, starting to feel annoyed again. 'Sleep here tonight if you want to, but don't come here ever again.'

'Mmmm,' he answered and lapsed into a felicitous slumber.

* * *

Over the following period, many more 'last times' followed. After every time, I would swear to myself that I would never repeat it. And, every next time, before I knew it, I would succumb once more.

Uranus, on the other hand, viewed all that as a game. He would show up before me at various places, at various times of day and night, and seduce me.

So, one day, when I was lying on the ground, at a clearing in an area with jungle vegetation, with my four limbs spread out, feeling lost, Cronus came and found me. I stood up. 'Mother, I apologize in advance,' he began, 'but you asked me to give you some time. And I think I gave you more than some.'

I sighed and turned around. 'Mother,' Cronus insisted, a little more intensely this time.

'Okay, I admit it,' I snapped, turning abruptly to him. 'I cannot resist him. Every time, he manages to seduce me.'

Cronus took a deep breath. He lowered his eyes and remained silent for a while. 'Okay… I understand,' he finally said. 'Since you cannot stop him, let's make him stop these games himself.' My eyes widened. Cronus raised his gaze back to me. 'You know what would devastate him. Am I right?' he asked.

Oh! What Cronus had in mind was too callous. Poor Uranus. But my evil self had taken control of my actions. So, no matter how ashamed I am for it nowadays, I did not stop Cronus. I let him proceed with his despicable plan!

Immediately, without using his voice, he sent the following telepathic message to Uranus: 'Zup, bro? I haven't seen you in a while. Follow my telepathic instructions to find me so that we can hang out.'

The elated Uranus started moving right away. When he was about to reach us, when we sensed him being close, Cronus moved to the second part of the plan: He grabbed me by the shoulders and stuck his lips to mine!

When Uranus emerged from vegetation and saw us, he took an expression that revealed he had just received the greatest surprise of his life. My and Cronuses lips parted. We turned to him. He was staring at us, motionless and with a shocked expression. 'Hey, Uranus. What took you so long?' Cronus said casually.

Uranus ignored him. 'Mom…' he said in a voice barely audible. The sorrow I felt that moment in Uranuses heart was so great that it shook me up.

'My Uranus…' I said tenderly and started pacing slowly towards him. The boy lowered his eyes and clenched his fists. Tears started rolling down his cheeks. I heard his sobs. I could not feel any anger in him; only sorrow, immense sorrow. Before I could reach him, he flew away.

I stayed still, looking in the direction he had flown in. Cronus took hold of my hand. 'Mother, it had to be done,' he said. 'Now that he will stop pestering you, we can, at last, go to the planet of mortals.'

I looked at him. 'Not yet,' I said.

Cronus got an annoyed expression. 'This is ridiculous. How long are you going to further postpone it?' he protested.

'I said not yet!' I yelled and flew away.

* * *

Ten nights went by without Uranus coming to sleep at my bed. Not only that, but also he would not come to find me during daytime. For ten days, I had not seen him at all!

Unable to take it anymore, I decided to go and find him myself. I spotted him sitting on a rock and gazing at the grassy landscape. I landed next to him. 'Hey,' I said with awkward seriousness.

Uranus looked at me without smiling, as opposed to usual. 'What do you want?' he asked me flatly.

Then, because of my anxiety about what the right thing to say was, I scolded him! 'Why have you been avoiding me?' I asked. 'Didn't you once say that it is natural for one to do that thing with their mother? Well, I'm Cronuses mother too.'

'Yeah, you're right, I guess,' Uranus started, with sorrow in his voice. 'Logically, I can understand what you're saying. Then why do I feel like that? Tell me, mommy. You who know everything, tell me, why do I feel so bad? Why do I feel I want to die?' My eyes widened. That was the first time I heard Uranus using the concept of death!

The boy slightly leaned forward, placed his palm on his chest and burst into sobs. Oh, my Uranus. How was I supposed to answer him? Tell me, how? I hugged his head.

'Sweetheart… please… don't cry,' I said, sadly but as tenderly as I could. 'Everything will be okay in the end.'

I broke the hug and raised his head, making him look at me. 'Will you come to sleep with me tonight?' I asked, smiling.

His wet eyes had a hesitant expression. 'Please, come tonight,' I kept smiling. 'We will fix everything, you will see.'

Uranus finally smiled and nodded. Next, he flew away.

'I saw that,' I heard a voice behind me. I turned around and saw Cronus standing and looking at me with his arms crossed. 'It seems that, one way or another, you will succumb again,' he commented.

I lowered my eyes, not knowing how to answer. Cronus interpreted my silence as a 'you are right' kind of answer. 'Then, let's move to more drastic measures,' he continued. 'Let's make sure that, even if he wants to, he won't be able to seduce you anymore!'

What Cronus proposed was monstrous! However, that moment, my dark side took control anew. I raised my eyes and looked at him again. And then, albeit hesitantly, the following words came out of my mouth: 'If you wish to do that, I… I will not stop you.'

I am not ashamed for anything in my life as much as I am for those words! Even nowadays, I cannot believe that, back then, my soul had got rotten to the extent that I let Cronus do what he intended to do to Uranus that night.

'Perfect! The job shall be done tonight,' my secondborn said with a malicious smile.

* * *

The fateful evening! I was sitting on my bed, with my palms touching the mattress and my soles touching the ground. Uranus showed up. He smiled at me. I smiled back. This exchange of smiles felt so nice that, for a moment, I forgot what was about to happen. For a moment, I was under the delusion that everything was the way it used to be, back when I was enjoying my life with Uranus without being tormented by dark thoughts. Cronuses appearance brought me back to reality; unfortunately, nothing could be as in the past anymore. I had changed. Uranus looked at him, surprised. 'Cronus? What are you doing here?' he asked.

'Oh, don't mind me. I just came to rid you of your manhood,' Cronus said with a sarcastic smile.

'What do you mean by «manh…'

Uranus never finished the sentence above. Cronus extended his index finger and fired a laser ray aimed directly at Uranuses treasure! The boy's tube and sack fell on the ground while a stream of blood gushed from the area between his legs!

With his mouth open and his eyes bulging, Uranus looked between his legs, trying to realize what had just happened! The next moment, his brain and all his senses were dominated by pain, indescribable pain!

The boy let out a chilling scream. The tone of his voice was eerie beyond the power of any description. I still remember that scream as if I can hear it right now. It feels like a stab in my heart!

Uranus had fallen on the ground and was rolling like crazy, screaming, convulsing and holding the covered in his immortal blood area where his treasure used to be.

With one more laser ray, Cronus turned his brother's severed treasure into ashes. Next, he looked at him with a provocative smile. The fallen Uranus looked at him with his eyes full of tears.

'And now, Uranus,' Cronus began, 'before your mommy and I kiss you goodbye forever, there is one more thing I want you to know. What I did, I did with her permission!' Cronus burst into laughter. Uranus looked at me. Once more, in his wet eyes, I could not see a trace of rage, only sorrow! That look killed me! Unable to bear to look at him anymore, I turned around.

I felt Cronuses hand around mine. I looked at my secondborn. 'Let's go to the planet of mortals. We have wasted enough time already,' he asked imperatively.

I sighed and flew behind him. First, of course, we had to go and pick up Aphrodite.

My daughter was sitting with her legs crossed under a tree and reading a tome before her bedtime. (Aphrodite had never materialized a bed or an island for herself; she would just sleep on random spots.) Myself and Cronus landed before her. She raised her eyes. 'This philosophical dissertation is exceptionally interesting, mother,' she said.

'Here she goes again, blathering on about nerdish stuff,' Cronus mumbled, annoyed.

'Aphrodite, I don't think I need to explain why we have come to find you,' I said. 'You are a smart maiden and your powers are fairly developed. I bet you already know what has happened.'

Aphrodite stood up. She closed her eyes, placed her palm on her exceptional chest and bowed slightly. 'I will follow you wherever you go, mother,' she said.

The three of us took off and soared into outer space, heading to the planet of mortals.


	12. Dominance

It was morning when we arrived. The area where we landed was not random; Cronus had chosen it as the base of our dominance. It was the residence of the person who, at that time, played boss of the planet of mortals. It was a large, white, rectangular shaped building with many vertical windows, which also were rectangular shaped. The main entrance included a triangular shaped canopy supported by four pillars. On the building's roof, there was a protruding pole, which a flag was waving on. It was white, with red stripes, and, in its top left corner, it had a blue square with white stars. The aforementioned building was located in a green garden, behind a cluster of poppies, above which one could see a spurt of fountain water. The garden was surrounded with black, iron bars.

'This is our new home. How do you like it?' Cronus said with a smile of pleasure.

'Whatever,' Aphrodite said indifferently.

Cronus moved forward, with me and Aphrodite following him. He entered the garden by pushing down the iron bars as if they were sugar canes!

The guards that saw this were shocked! I felt terror in their hearts! Nevertheless, a group of guards ran towards us. They were dressed in black uniforms and hoods of the same color. They aimed their rifles at us. 'Freeze!' one of them yelled strictly.

Cronus smiled sadistically. The next moment, he had gone behind the guard who had shouted and penetrated his heart with his fist! He pulled back his incorruptible arm (which, of course, the guard's blood rolled off, leaving it spotless) and pushed away the body of the practically dead guard. The rest of the soldiers, after staying still for a moment because of an excusable feeling of horror, started shooting furiously all three of us. My immortal ears were barraged with noise.

I started evading every bullet with my inconceivable speed. In my own, superior eyes, the bullets looked like they were moving in slow motion! The fraction of a fraction of a second during which all this was happening was, from my perspective, ample time to dodge everything effortlessly!

Cronus also was evading every single bullet coming at him. At the same time, he was killing the security guards, one after another, in various ways: He penetrated one's stomach, twisted another's neck, cut off another's arm and, then, used it as a sword to pierce his heart, fired a blast at another and, then, let him burn alive!

As for Aphrodite, she had opted to simply stay still with her arms crossed and let the bullets ricochet off her indestructible body.

When there were only two guards left, Cronus grabbed their heads and smashed them together! Next, he let the two headless bodies fall down.

We resumed moving forward. As we were approaching the entrance, some snipers on the roof started firing. 'Drop dead!' Cronus yelled in annoyance. He raised his index and middle fingers and made a quick signal in front of his face. With that gesture of his, the snipers fell off the roof and died either by telepathic strangulation or by cardiac arrest.

We entered the building. Soon, its interior had got stained with the blood of the guards we met as we strolled through the corridors, searching for the 'boss'.

* * *

On every turned on television of the planet, every image was replaced by the following broadcast: A close up of Cronus. He had a smile that revealed his megalomania. His archaic outfit was now supplemented by a laurel wreath on his head. (It had suddenly occurred to him that it was a nice symbol of power.) 'Greetings, mortals,' he began. 'Don't bother trying to fix your devices or changing channel, for this is the broadcast on all channels right now. Before me, there are no cameras or microphones or anything like that. The current broadcast is merely a result of the power of my will. Don't try to understand this; it's beyond your comprehension.'

Cronus paused, letting his words sink in. 'Pardon my rudeness; I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Cronus, a creature beyond anything that your limited, mortal minds can conceive. From now until forever, I am your supreme ruler. Yourselves as well as all future generations will exist merely for one reason: to be my slaves, my property, my toys. There is no limit to what I can do to you. If I decide to force you to work day and night to build me a monument, I'll do it. If I decide to slaughter a few thousands of you or level a city just because I got up on the wrong side of the bed, I'll do it.'

He paused once more, getting an insane smile. 'You don't believe anything I said. Am I right?' he asked rhetorically. 'Well, maybe this will convince you.'

Cronus stepped back to show the people where he was. Behind him, there was a desk with a man tied to the chair. He was wearing a black suit, a white shirt and a red tie. He had short, white hair and a handsome face. Or, it would be handsome if it was not full of scars and swellings caused by the brutal blows that Cronus had dealt to him.

At each side of him, there was a pole with a flag attached to it. The flag to the left looked the same as the one we had seen outside, on the top of the building. The flag to the right depicted, against a dark blue background, an eagle with white feathers on its head and brown ones on the rest of its body. The greatest part of its torso was covered by an emblem the same design as the flag to the left. In one talon, it was holding an olive branch and, in the other, a bundle of arrows. It was surrounded by white stars.

Further behind, there were large windows with crimson curtains. Aphrodite was standing, with her hands behind her back and touching the window and her head turned, and gazing indifferently outside. I was standing next to her, with my arms crossed, looking at the floor.

Cronus went behind the tied up man and, looking at the immaterial lens, started slapping him on both cheeks in a sarcastically friendly manner. 'Do you recognize him?' he asked the spectators in the same manner. 'He's your president, you gooses. Of course you recognized him right away!'

He looked at him. 'Come on, mister president. Say your piece,' he asked, keeping up his sarcastically friendly expression.

After coughing (as a result of the ordeal he had gone through), the malformed president looked at the immaterial lens and began: 'Don't be fooled by the human appearance of those three creatures around me. They're monsters! They bypassed all the security systems, killed my guard and effortlessly reached my office. From now on, this building will be their palace and the whole planet will be their property. Nobody must ever doubt their power. For your own good, always let them do whatever they want.'

After coughing once more, the president raised his eyes to Cronus. 'Okay, dude, I said everything you asked me to. Untie me now,' he besought.

With a creepy chuckle, Cronus grabbed the president's neck. The man's eyes bulged. 'But… but…' he said, terrified. 'You said that… if I said those things, you'd… let me go. You swore to God!'

'I am God!' Cronus yelled. Twisting the president's neck, he ripped his head off! The headless, tied up body tried to convulse before calming down once and for all. Cronus moved forward and extended the arm he was holding the amputated head with. 'This is your president. Admire him,' he said and burst into laughter.

He turned around for a moment and threw the head outside, breaking the window in the process of course. He turned to the immaterial camera again. 'Anyway, let's forget about the EX president. Time to introduce my family to you.'

He walked towards Aphrodite and stopped next to her. 'This is my sister, Aphrodite.' Next, he leaned towards the camera, cupped his hand around his mouth and said in a low voice, 'Just between us, she's a little nerdy.' Aphrodite turned her head and sighed in annoyance, raising her eyes to the ceiling. Cronus laughed mischievously. Next, he got serious again.

He walked towards me and stopped right next to me. 'And this is our mother, Gaia. A creature that exists since the dawn of time.' I did not react.

'And now, a request to all armies,' Cronus continued. 'Don't make the mistake of attacking us. It is not only futile, since none of your ridiculous weapons, mortals, can do us any harm, but also idiotic, since not even one soldier will leave alive afterwards.'

* * *

Myself and my two offsprings settled into our new rooms. Every one of us chose a room with a fireplace, a chandelier and walls with paintings depicting beautiful landscapes or white haired men with ludicrous hairstyles and dressed in clothes from older eras.

My own room had red walls, a white carpet with complex designs and red chairs with brown contours. The room that Cronus had selected had green walls, a carpet of the same color with complex designs and red chairs. Lastly, the chamber that Aphrodite preferred was circular, with a white wall, a blue carpet with complex designs and chairs of the same color with golden contours and embroidery designs of golden symbols.

Meanwhile, everywhere on the planet, pandemonium prevailed. All newsflashes in the world were talking about 'the mysterious, pirate broadcast on all channels in the world', 'the tragic assassination of the president by three terrorists', 'the psychopath in an archaic outfit and the two female nudists' etc The city where the ex president's former (and, at that time, our) palace was located had got deserted. The residents of all other cities in the world also were massively abandoning their homes in a state of panic, as if it mattered whether they were there or anywhere else. (How stupid mortals are.)

A couple of times, powerful police forces attacked our palace, but, of course, they all died horribly at the hands of Cronus.

So, here I was, sitting on a chair in my room, with my wonderful legs sensually crossed, and reading. Suddenly, I sensed military forces approaching. Of course! I had expected this would happen!

Cronus burst in, dragging Aphrodite behind him by her arm. 'Mom, did you feel that?' he asked rhetorically with a creepy expression of enthusiasm. 'The army decided to show their indescribable idiocy as well and attack us.'

Without taking my eyes off my read, I shrugged indifferently. 'Let them do it,' I said. 'Even if they level the building, we can rematerialize it exactly as it is. And, of course, ourselves, we shall not get harmed by their arms.'

'Not a chance, mother,' Cronus said with disapproval. 'Since they had the unbelievable stupidity to come here, they have to pay for it. Let's go outside!'

'Leave me alone, Cronus,' an unwilling Aphrodite protested.

Cronus turned to look at her. 'No, you'll come too,' he said, laughing. Aphrodite sighed in boredom.

The three of us exited the building. We saw that we were surrounded by tanks in various colors and shapes, which had arrived there demolishing buildings in their way. Thanks to my superior hearing, I heard the general's command.

Immediately, all tanks began firing. The place was drowned in flares, smoke and deafening noise. This went on for a long time. I could feel in the hearts of the poor soldiers the certainty that they had obliterated us; it seemed inconceivable to them that any living thing could survive something like that. Nevertheless, they had not ceased firing. They did not intend to stop before running out of ammunition.

Finally, after a period that seemed endless, they ceased firing. They stayed still, looking and waiting for the smoke to dissipate, sure that nothing was left of us. When visibility started getting restored, I sensed in the soldiers' hearts the greatest terror that a creature can feel! Of the palace and the garden, absolutely nothing was left. However, the three of us were standing there, as if nothing had happened! Cronus was standing a little ahead of us, with his arms crossed and a provocative smile.

Soon, though, his expression turned into an annoyed one, when he remembered something important: His clothes and laurel wreath were not as durable as his body! 'Fuck! I'm nude. This is so humiliating!' he yelled. 'Those assholes are gonna pay!'

After rematerializing on his body the same clothes and wreath as before, he raised himself in the air. The pupils and the sclera of his eyes were replaced by a red, glowing light. 'Since you haven't realized what you're up against yet, I'll make you realize it,' he yelled in an eerily distorted voice that resonated as if there were huge loudspeakers around.

With a signal of his, all tanks in the front row exploded. The rest of the tanks started turning around, with their drivers desperately trying to escape.

Cronus dove towards them. He grabbed one of the tanks by its gun and hurled it at another one, making both of them explode. He proceeded to the destruction of the rest, slowly and sadistically. He was having a blast.

Myself and Aphrodite, we were just standing and gazing indifferently, me with my arms crossed and Aphrodite with her arms behind her back. At some point, my daughter turned and looked at me. 'Boys are terribly immature. Right, mother?' she asked me. I sighed.

Over the following days, mortals made more attempts to destroy us, first via bombardment, next with a nuclear bomb. After every attempt, we would rematerialize the palace and the garden. And, of course, as Cronus had promised in his announcement, after every attempt, no soldier would leave alive. Little by little, mortals started accepting their fate.

* * *

_'Mommy?'_

_'What is it, honey?'_

_'Tell me we will never be apart.'_

_'We will never be apart.'_

I woke up. I had had that damned dream again. Every time I fell asleep, that memory would surface, that promise I had made to Uranus so long before, the promise that we would be together forever.

And, then, I realized that Uranus was there! He was standing in front of the incorruptible cloud bed that I had materialized in the center of my chamber. Had he come here all the way from the planet of immortals? He was standing and looking at me with his eyes wet, with the same expression he had the previous time I had seen him. That expression which I could not stand, which shattered my heart! 'Mommy, why did you do that to me?' he asked. 'You had said we would never be apart…'

He lowered his head, closed his eyes, clenched his fists and burst into sobs. 'My Uranus,' I tried to say tenderly, but, to my surprise, I realized that my lips were not moving and my voice was not coming out.

I tried to get up, to go towards him, but I could not move. My eyes roamed around the room. Everything was… blurry. Of course! I had not woken up yet! I was in a state of sleep paralysis. You know, when your brain has woken up but your body is still asleep, so your nervous system does not obey and you cannot move.

I started to make desperate attempts to fully awaken, to move, to talk to Uranus, to go close to him. No matter how hard I tried, though, my body remained asleep. My nerves would just not comply.

Meanwhile, Uranus would ask again and again. His sorrow was echoing in my ears, making my failed attempts to wake up even more distressing: 'Why, mommy? Why? Tell me, why?'

Finally, I did it. I woke up! With an abrupt movement and a small cry, I sat up. My vision was fully restored. I looked forward. Nothing! Uranus had never come there. It had just been my imagination while I was in sleep paralysis.

Uranus had not come! Nor would he! And it was all my fault! And yes, that moment was a moment of clarity! I remembered the atrocities I had seen Cronus commit lately. Then, I remembered the more distant past, Uranus, that angelic creature. How could I do that to him? What was I thinking? I meant the whole world to that crystally pure child. I was the source of his happiness. Yet I abandoned him. And let Cronus, that despicable creature, cripple the poor kid! As simple as that, as shameless as that!

I got up, even though it was still long before dawn. I knew there was no way I could fall asleep again that night.

I flew out of the palace. I took a flying tour above the city. Everything was deserted. All the buildings were either ruined or decaying. I landed on the roof deck of one of the few buildings that were still standing (even though, of course, they were abandoned). I gazed at the grim spectacle of the ghost city. The night sky was cloudy. It started drizzling.

Why did I feel so bad? What was happening to me? It had been supposed to be nice to come to that planet to carry out Cronuses plans, to dominate, to terrorize. Then why did I feel like that? Why couldn't I sleep peacefully at night? That wasn't the way things had been supposed to be! Everything was so confused…

The rain had begun becoming more intense. And so had my contemplation. When a mortal feels lost, as I felt at that moment, they place their hope in religion, in the non existent god they perceive as existent. Myself, though, I knew that all this was nonsense. I knew that I was the supreme being. I knew there was nothing superior to me to turn to for the answers I sought. Wait a minute… If I truly was the supreme being, I would not feel the need to turn to something superior!

The rain had got really heavy. A thunder was heard. Some religions of mortals believe in a god timeless, in other words, a god that has existed forever. No matter how absurd this sounds! Myself, though, I have not existed forever… I started having consciousness a certain moment. Can… can that thing the religions of mortals teach be true? Can there truly be a timeless being that created me?

I raised my eyes to the clouds, ignoring the downpour. I was in tears. 'Where are you?' I screamed to the supposed god. 'If you exist, show yourself. I need answers.'

Nothing! Absolutely nothing… 'SHOW YOURSELF, DAMMIT.'

I burst into sobs. I fell to my knees and let out an inarticulate scream. The mud formed by the rain could not dirty my incorruptible body, but the rainwater had drenched me. Of course, this was the last thing I cared about at that moment.

I felt despair. I did not have the mental strength to scream anymore. 'Please…' I said weakly between my sobs. 'Please, god… help me.'

If what mortals perceive as a god exists, why, when I was in that condition, didn't it do anything to help me?

'Because you already know what you must do. It is your choice to torment yourself,' I answered myself in a low voice. I widened my eyes. I had said those words almost unconsciously! Almost… as if another force had made them come out of my mouth!

Right after that, my expression changed, it became dark. Unfortunately, my dark side prevailed once more… 'Pfft, this is nonsense,' I murmured dismissively.


	13. The Riddle of My Heart

As time passed, Cronus was getting more and more into it. He would capture groups of mortals and force them to work exhaustingly hard to build him monuments or serve him in other ways, although, due to his powers, he could have anything he desired anyway (which means that he did that solely out of sadism and megalomania). Other times, when he was in a bad mood or just wanted to get some action, he would attack cities of mortals, killing and destroying. Also, he never parted with his outfit: his white tunic, his golden sandals and his laurel wreath. Myself and Aphrodite, on the other hand, we were going around with our bodies as they were; we saw no reason to wear clothes.

Little by little, the world of mortals turned into a primitive, nightmarish place. This was caused not so much by Cronuses actions (which, though horrible, were just medium scale disasters) as by mortals' fear itself; their mass hysteria led to the collapse of every political and economic system. Humans now lived under primitive conditions, struggling for their survival, individually or in small groups. They had to face not only Cronus but also one another. Because of the limited resources left, the competition for survival reached unbelievable levels of cruelty and horror. People killing one another for a slice of bread was an everyday occurrence.

As for me, I had learnt to ignore my remorse and got used to my life. Occasionally, I entertained myself with terrorizing mortals as well, though not as often as Cronus. I would now do with countless men what I used to do with Uranus at night. Furthermore, I permanently hosted at the palace those who really satisfied me. Of course, sooner or later, I banished them, since, sooner or later, the effects that the passage of time has on mortals rendered them all appallingly ugly and thus unworthy of being close to me.

Of course, Cronus hosted his lovers as well. They were concubines that were there either of their own free will or by force.

Lastly, for Aphrodite, essentially nothing had changed since we still lived on the planet of immortals. She kept being absorbed by her intellectual interests, without any man ever having touched her; she told me that she might do that too someday, but, for the time being, she saw no reason to hurry.

They were rare, and they were becoming rarer and rarer, but there were also moments when I would remember Uranus, his sweet smile, his pure heart, and cry thinking about the things I had done. Sometimes, I realized that I could make everything the way it used to be back when my soul was peaceful and nothing tormented me. One decision was all it took. Yet, for some reason, I would never make that decision.

* * *

One day, when I was flying lazily above a remote area, I sensed human life. It was on a mountain slope. The ground alternated between soil and greenery. Here and there, there were dark colored bushes, equally dark colored trees and rocks.

A hermitess was ascending the slope, heading to the entrance of a cave. Her life signals were weak; she was a really advanced age. Yet she was going up the mountain! I admit I was impressed! However, this did not stop me from going and terrorizing her; it was a good opportunity to break out of my boredom.

If I showed up by landing before her and, furthermore, she saw that I was not wearing any clothes, she would definitely realize who I was. By that time, everybody knew me and my offsprings. It had been a long time since we conquered the planet of mortals; probably, not even that old lady was born yet at that time!

The hermitess had almost reached the cave entrance when I landed in front of her. 'Peek a boo. Do you recognize me, mortal trash?' I said, with my arms crossed and a threatening smile. Her face was wrecked by the passage of time. She was wearing a black, ragged dress and shoes of the same color. On her head, she was wearing a black scarf with blue squares. Some white hair protruded from under it.

And then, I uncrossed my arms and my smile faded in a sudden realization! Even if I did not have my superior, overdeveloped senses, it would still be obvious, from the look in her black, aged eyes! 'Hello? Who's there?' she asked in confusion. 'Do we know each other, miss? I'm sorry, but I can't see you. I lost my eyesight years ago.'

I opened my mouth, not knowing how to react. All my desire to scare her was lost! 'N-no, ma'am, we don't know each other,' I finally stuttered. 'I'm just a passer by.'

'Good,' she smiled. 'I don't have visitors often. Do you want to come to my humble home to chat a little?'

I pondered it for a moment. That was the first time in my life I had an opportunity to converse with a mortal naturally, as if I was one of them! I accepted…

In the interior of the cave, there was a rudimentary bed, along with some plain possessions. Above a fire, there was a black pot. With a wooden ladle, the old lady filled a clay bowl with steaming vegetable soup and offered it to me. 'I'm sorry for not having something better to serve you,' she said. 'I guess my home is not Cronuses palace, hahaha…'

I sighed. 'Ma'am, forget about the soup,' I said. 'I am carrying a lot of food with me. I will give you something better to eat.' In my hand, I materialized a large, delicious burger in a wrapper. On the wrapper, there was the sign of an old, large fast food chain that used to thrive back before the apocalypse. I unwrapped it and gave it to her. 'Here. Eat this. It will perk you up,' I said.

The blind, old lady took it in her hands and groped it. 'This must be something really delectable,' she said. 'Where did you find it, miss? Nobody has access to such luxurious stuff anymo…'

'I just found it and want to share it with you,' I abruptly interrupted her. 'Don't ask anything else, ma'am. Please, eat it up. Do me this favor.'

'Fine, I'll do you this favor,' she said, laughing. The old lady sat on a protruding rock and started eating. I sat on another rock, with my elbows on my thighs and my palms supporting my head, and started gazing at her.

'So… you live here alone,' I said at some point.

'Yes. I'm not complaining,' she replied, laughing.

'Well, I'm impressed,' I commented. 'Not only do you manage to survive in this remote place, but also you are in a good mood.'

'It is because I don't let reality affect me,' she explained.

'Really?' I said, baffled.

'Why do you think that the world has turned out the way it is?' she continued. 'Why do you think that people have reached a point where they kill one another for a few crumbs of food? It's because they have surrendered to fear, the fear of reality.'

'Well, what is happening to humanity right now is no small matter,' I defended them. 'Those three supernatural monsters came from outer space or from who knows where and…'

'Even those creatures you call monsters are humans inside,' the old lady interrupted me abruptly. 'Humans with their own problems, their own sorrows, humans frightened of their own reality.' I had started admiring that person!

'Oh, ma'am, I envy you,' I sighed. I let my arms fall and, as a result, my head fell between my legs. 'I wish I was like you,' I continued. 'Maybe I used to be. But, then, I was attacked by unspeakable thoughts. Thoughts that turned me into something I had never imagined I could become. Sometimes, I'm terrified by what I have turned into.'

'Come on. If you were that bad, you wouldn't have shared your food with me,' the old lady scolded me.

'And yet, ma'am, and yet,' I insisted while I started welling up. 'You have no idea what I have done in my life. I am ashamed of what I am, I want to change, to go back to the way I used to be, but I can't. My evil thoughts will just not leave me alone. And I cannot banish them, no matter how hard I try.'

I burst into tears. I felt a hand crossing my long, red hair. I raised my tearful gaze. The old lady had stood up and come next to me. 'Listen to me, girl,' she said in a low voice. 'Listen to a piece of advice from someone who is older than you.'

When she said 'older than you', I almost laughed, for obvious reasons. Thankfully, I managed to repress it and let her continue: 'Your mistake is that, in order to banish black thoughts… you think. You are trying to fight thoughts with thoughts. It cannot be done this way! You must do the opposite! Don't think about anything, clear your mind of everything. Only then will you find your true self. Because your true self is not what you are now.'

I stopped crying and looked curiously at her. 'I don't understand… how can I not think about anything?' I asked. 'This is not possible! And what do you mean by that thing you said about my true self?'

'I won't explain everything. I won't make it so easy for you,' the old lady said strictly. 'Go home, try to empty your mind and, when you manage it, you will understand everything I said.'

I sighed. 'So… I'm going,' I said and stood up. 'Thank you for everything.'

'And I thank you for the food,' she laughed.

As I exited the cave, I was contemplating her words. They constituted a riddle I had to solve. The riddle of my heart!

I was about to fly away when something crossed my mind. Should I restore the eyesight of that woman? No, it was not a good idea. If I did that, she would definitely realize who I was. On the other hand, I felt I owed it to her. It was the least I could do for her. And so, I decided it! I would take that chance. I would heal her.

'Ma'am, I've got a present for you,' I said while re-entering the cave. I halted abruptly. I could no longer sense the slightest life signals emitted by the lady's body. I looked at her fallen body, which was now nothing more than a mass of organic matter. Her face was stuck in a smile.

My eyes became wet again. I crouched and kissed her forehead. 'I shall never forget you, sweetheart,' I whispered.


	14. I'm Just

Over the following period, I tried to do what the old lady had advised me to: clear my mind and not think about anything. But I could not! And what was that thing she had said about my true self? Darn it, everything was so confused…

One seemingly usual day, I was lying on my cloud bed in my room, in a supine position, with my hands under my head and my legs crossed. Once more, I was trying to solve the riddle. Suddenly, I felt something. It was coming from Cronuses room!

I turned immaterial and, moving through walls, reached the green chamber of my secondborn. A concubine was fallen on the floor. She had long, black, curly hair. She was wearing a white sweater, a pair of jeans and brown boots. Cronus was standing in front of her, with a cold expression. She was holding her belly and staring pleadingly at him. 'Please, don't hit me. Show mercy to the child,' she said in a low voice.

'I told you I don't want any children. Get rid of it,' he responded imperatively and insensitively.

The woman's eyes became wet. 'I never protested,' she said. 'Not even when you killed my family, not even when, right after that, you abducted me and brought me here, not even all this time you have been raping me. And now, all I'm asking you is…'

Cronus grabbed her by the neck and lifted her with one arm. I saw terror in her eyes. 'Girl, who do you think you are?' he yelled. 'Have you realized whom you're talking to? Have you realized what's going on here?'

'Cronus, stop,' I shouted while returning to my material state. Both of them turned and looked at me.

'Almighty Gaia, please, don't let him do this to me,' the woman said desperately, with her voice barely coming out, because of Cronuses grip.

Cronus ignored her. 'Mother, I'm sorry, but I can't let her give birth,' he said. 'This child might claim my throne someday.'

At that point, I got some justified questions. What would a half blooded offspring born to a mortal and an immortal be like?

And what kind of gestation would that woman have? Would she lay an egg like me? Or would she give birth to a baby? In any case, if I wished to get the answers to these questions, I had to stop Cronus first. I raised my hands to chest level. 'Cronus, I really think you should cool off a notch,' I said with a very serious expression.

'Forget it,' he yelled. Taking me by surprise, he raised his other arm and twisted the woman's neck with it! A creepy, cracking sound was heard. Next, Cronus left go of the practically dead woman, who fell on the floor with a 'fish eyes' expression. He crouched, penetrated her abdomen with one arm and pulled out the small, unformed embryo. (Yes, it was not an egg after all.) He smiled like a madman. 'You thought you'd overthrow me, huh?' he said to the embryo, as if it could understand.

Myself, in the meantime, I was frozen in shock, which was why I could not react. I had never expected something so twisted, even of Cronus. And I had seen nothing yet!

My secondborn threw the embryo in the air and, before it could fall down, shooted a blast of unbelievably hot fire that roasted it in an instant! Cronus caught the roasted embryo in the air, put it in his mouth and began chewing it! A creepy, crunching sound was heard! 'Not bad,' he laughed with his mouth full.

'It was your child, asshole!' I screamed when I finally managed to speak. This was the first time in my life that I swore!

'Don't lecture me!' he yelled. 'You're no saint either! You had no problem when I castrated your pampered son, nor when I subjugated mortals. You're as guilty as me!'

'Exactly,' I continued the screaming match. 'I was the one who gave you the power to do all that stuff and I can take it back if I want to! And I will! Your game is over!'

Cronus laughed! My eyes widened in surprise. Was it possible? Had he truly forgotten I am the almighty Gaia? 'Do it if you can,' he crossed his arms in a provocative manner. 'Start with something simple. Say, I challenge you to make me grow donkey ears.'

Hah! Piece of cake. All I need to do is desire it… The next moment, my eyes bulged in the scare of my life! Why had Cronus not grown donkey ears? How was it possible for me to want something without it happening the next moment? 'Such stuff no longer works on me, mother,' Cronus said in a sarcastically respectful tone of voice. 'My powers have developed.'

And, with those words, he charged at me and dealt a punch to my stomach, knocking the wind out of me! That was the first time in my millennia long life that my incorruptible body felt pain, real pain! I was trying to process, in my superior brain, what had just happened. That was impossible, beyond all reason, beyond my conception! Yet it was happening! There was a power that was able to defy my will, to cause me pain!

And while I was bent forward and holding my belly, Cronus, with a cold look, extended his arm and, with a burst of his inner energy, hurled me away. I went through walls, breaking them, and ended up outside, very far from the palace, in the half destroyed city. Finally, I crashed on a building, which collapsed after the collision!

With the power of my will, I hurled the debris off me. Next, I raised my body several tens of meters above the ground. I felt Cronus approaching by flying.

It seemed that, somehow, he had managed to develop his powers, and, moreover, without me ever having noticed! Maybe…(darn, it was hard to even say it)… maybe he now even possessed omnipotence like me! On top of that, he was in a higher level of concentration than I was; my remorse and the cloud of confusion in my heart limited my mental clarity. I needed urgently to get over my remorse and get down to real combat! I sent a telepathic message to my daughter: 'Aphrodite, as you have realized, a serious issue came up between myself and your brother. Since all hell is going to break loose here, I would feel more comfortable if, for the time being, you went to another planet of the solar system.'

'Okay, mother, I'm leaving,' she answered telepathically.

Cronus reached me. He hovered across from me, with his arms crossed and a provocative smile. In a state of panic, I tried to stall by talking to him, as if this would help: 'Do you realize that, if we fight here, all mortals will die?'

'So what?' he asked, smiling and shrugging. 'Now I am omnipotent, there are no limits to what I can do. When I'm done with you, I can create more humans to rule over. And not just on this planet!'

'How did you manage to increase your powers so much?' I asked, trying to maintain my composure.

'NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS,' he screamed and charged at me.

I took a fighting stance. However, a fraction of a moment before reaching me, Cronus… disappeared. I felt a headbutt in my back. I winced. Was it possible that Cronus had moved so fast that not even my immortal eyes had tracked him? And yet, as it seemed, this was the case!

I recovered soon from the pain and the surprise, span around and, with a hook punch, caused his head to turn to the side and his lip to burst open. I exploited his daze, grabbed him by the shoulders and kneed the sack of his treasure! To my enormous surprise, he raised his eyes and coughed, looking at me with a smile that indicated that the hit he had received on the supposed weak spot of a man had merely caused him a bearable irritation! 'Not bad, mother,' he commented sarcastically.

Exploiting my surprise, he grabbed my leg and, with a cry, hurled me to the concrete ground, thus opening a huge crater. The next moment, though, I soared out of the crater and, with momentum, headbutted him in the face, thus tossing him further up in the air.

He managed to stop himself a few meters above me. His face was stained with his immortal blood. He smiled creepily and licked the blood off around his lips!

I widened my eyes and gasped in shock. I had already felt something terrifying in him back when he was still in my womb, and now I could see it to its full extent! I had to face not only his power but also that aura of terror which he emitted and which was making me more and more nervous.

I charged at him again. We engaged in an aerial battle, exchanging hits so fast that we were invisible to mortal eyes. For a fairly long time, we would evade each other's blows. Every hit that missed its target created a shockwave that caused buildings and mountains around to crumble!

* * *

Aphrodite landed on the planet which has the same name as her. After crossing the layer of clouds which surround the celestial body and give it its pale yellow hue, she stepped on the surface. The atmosphere, the pressure and the temperature there are prohibitive for any mortal creature. But, of course, Aphrodite had no problem staying there as long as she wanted. 'Good luck, mother,' she sighed in a low voice.

* * *

My battle with Cronus went on for hours. The energy emitted by our bodies had caused a series of natural disasters: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves and unbelievably high voltage lightning bolts. Black clouds had gathered everywhere.

We had now got back on the ground and were grappling. Cronuses clothes had been obliterated a long time before. Both of us were full of blood, scars and swellings, though I was obviously in a much worse condition. As for mortal creatures, they all were history! Cracks were being formed on the ground, under our feet!

Little by little, I began to succumb to Cronuses immeasurable strength. I could not take it anymore. My knees started trembling, bending. Cronus smiled. He raised both legs and kicked me with his heels in the face, which thus got stained with even more blood. He continued his motion by doing a back somersault and landed a few meters away from me.

Myself, I had fallen on my knees and was holding my face. I pushed myself to ignore the pain and got up. I extended my arm and fired a wide, bright blast of energy. My son reciprocated by doing the same. The two blasts collided, producing a blinding flash. Cronuses blast overpowered and engulfed mine, thus hitting me. The explosion blew me away.

Fortunately, my body took most of the damage that the blast caused, otherwise the whole planet would have been reduced to cosmic dust!

I stood up again. With greater difficulty than before! Cronus was approaching, flying with determination and momentum. With a signal of mine, a huge hole opened under his course and lava spurt out! I saw Cronus walking slowly out of the spurt, at a relaxed pace, with a victorious smile. 'To try something like that, you must have started getting desperate,' he said.

I growled. I knew he was right. The next moment, I found myself chained to a huge, vertical slab of stone that Cronus had materialized with the power of his will. The chains were made of an unknown material that was Cronuses creation. I tried to release myself. To no avail! Not even my practically infinite strength could break the material my bonds were made of! Cronus stopped before me. He looked at me with a blissful smile. He threw a punch at my stomach, causing my eyes to bulge and my mouth to wide open.

'After I have killed you, I will rule all creation,' he said. 'I, the almighty Cronus! Because I will really kill you, mother!' Never in my millennia long life had it occurred to me that I, Gaia, could ever… die! And yet, that time had come! I no longer had any other choice than to accept my fate.

Cronus took two steps back. His expression had become stern. 'What did you think?' he started again. 'That I was content with being second to you forever? I am born for greatness. It is over, mommy!'

Mommy! Obviously, Cronus called me that sarcastically. But still, that was what Uranus used to call me. Ohh, my sweet one… How beautiful my life had once been. Why had I ruined it? Why had I let dark thoughts control me? Why had I listened to Cronus? Basically, why had I even given birth to him? I should have killed him when he was still in my womb, since I had felt that that child would beget only disaster. At last, I had regretted everything. But it was too late. I lowered my eyes. 'Kill me,' I said in a voice barely audible.

'First, I want to express my hatred of you,' Cronus said and began a monologue full of venom.

I ceased listening to him. I closed my eyes. I was left alone with darkness, as during the first moments of my life. Everything else did not matter. Everything else did not exist for me anymore.

I was not thinking about anything anymore! In other words, what I had been unsuccessfully trying to do all that time! And the reason that, all that time, I had not been able to do it was that I was still affected by reality. But, now that I had stopped caring about reality, now that I had reached indifference, my mind was at last clear. And it was then that truth shone! The old lady was right about everything! What I had been all that time was not my real self. It was not really me.

Devil, that creature that, according to many religions, implants bad thoughts into you and makes your life miserable, is nothing more than one's own bad self. And one's bad self is created little by little by the reality surrounding them, the conditions under which they are born and live. But, when you stop caring, when your mind empties, then reality is lost and so is your bad self. And only your true self remains, what you were the first moment of your life, before anything could affect you.

In the darkness, I faced my reflection. I smiled at it. It was my real self, the one unaffected by anything that had happened to me in my millennia long life, unaffected by the conditions, unaffected by the fact that I happened to be born with all those powers I have! I'm just a human. I'm just a girl. I'm just Gaia!

I opened my eyes with a peaceful smile. That moment, Cronus was almost done with his speech: '...so, now that you know all the reasons I detest you, the time has come to send you into oblivion.'

He stopped and gave me a perplexed look when he realized that I was smiling. 'Strange, huh?' I said. 'Now that everything became clear inside me, you no longer look that frightening to me.'

With a burst of my inner energy, I caused the slab and the chains to crumble. My son's eyes bulged. 'So, will you kill me or not?' I said with a provocative smile.

Blinded by rage, Cronus charged at me, screaming. He attempted to throw a sloppy punch at me, but I caught his hand and threw a punch at his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him.

He knelt, holding his belly. I turned my back to him in a provocative manner and took two steps. He jumped to his feet and, letting out one more inarticulate cry, charged at me again, this time attempting to strike me in the neck with a knife hand. I raised my arm, blocking the hit with my feminine and seemingly weak muscles. Cronus pulled back his arm, screaming with the pain he felt in the spot that had collided with my arm.

I span around and, with a crescent kick on the head, knocked him down. My expression became very serious.

'It's over, Cronus,' I said and extended my arm.

'No, mom, please, don't kill me,' he begged me in terror.

I did not buy it! 'I'm sorry,' I said. 'When you have solved the riddle of your own heart, as I have solved the riddle of mine, I will bring you back. For the time being, though, you are too dangerous.'

Panicked, he was about to say something, but I did not bother waiting to hear it. From my extended arm, I fired a blast that annihilated my son's body. Cronus was dead!

I raised my eyes. I took a deep breath. A golden light surrounded me for a few seconds. And, by the time the light had faded, all my wounds had disappeared thanks to the power of my will. My body was restored to its former perfection.

I smiled. I looked at the sky. The black clouds had begun dissipating. Who knows, maybe there is a god after all! And maybe, sometimes, he ignores one's prayers for a while on purpose. Because the sweet is not as sweet without the bitter! 'Thank you, my god,' I whispered with my hand on my chest.

I soared into outer space. From far away, I looked at the blue planet. I no longer needed it. I fired a blast that obliterated it, along with all my bad memories.

* * *

I landed before Aphrodite, on the planet that has the same name as her. We exchanged looks for a while, without either of us knowing what to say. Finally, I broke the silence: 'I... I suppose you know what has happened.'

My daughter nodded. We looked at each other some more. I started again: 'Would... would you mind staying here some more, until I make amends with your other brother, Uranus?'

Aphrodite closed her eyes, placed her hand on her chest and bowed. 'No problem, mother,' she said. 'Take your time. I will stay here as long as needed.'

I smiled at her. I placed my hands on her shoulders. She gave me a baffled look. 'You know what, Aphrodite?' I said. 'I don't think you are as insensitive as one would say at first sight. You have sleeping goodness in you. When we meet again, I will train you on emotional intelligence.'

She smiled at me. 'I'm looking forward to it, mother,' she said. I realized that was the first time I saw Aphrodite smile! I offered her one more smile, waved my arm in front of my face, with its index and middle fingers extended, as a 'goodbye' gesture and flew away.

I could simply teleport to my planet, but I did not want to do it that abruptly. I preferred to fly there and use the travel time to think about how I would face Uranus again!


	15. Back Home

When I landed on my planet, it was evening. I felt the cool grass under my soles. I admired the wonderful landscape. I had missed those places so much…

I closed my eyes, smiled, opened my arms and took a deep breath, enjoying the clean air of my planet. Ahh! How different it was from the polluted air I had got used to breathing all that time on the planet of mortals. What a wonderful sensation. I exhaled in a delicate manner.

I felt something rubbing itself against my legs. It was a grey bunny that was moving like crazy. How cute it was being excited! It seemed it had recognized me and wanted to show me how much it had missed me. I laughed. I cradled it in my arms and kissed it. 'I've missed you too, my little one,' I whispered in its ear.

Next, my face got serious. Sure returning home is nice. But let's not forget that I had also done horrible things, which, sooner or later, I had to take responsibility for.

I put the rabbit down and flew away. I landed in the center of my island. My bed was good as new, being incorruptible. But, on it, there was a very old piece of paper. It was damaged and turned yellow. I read it (well, who wouldn't?): 'HERE IS WHERE MY MOMMY USED TO SLEEP. MOMMY… WHY DID YOU GO? WHY?'

My heart sank. I let out a huge sigh. It seemed that Uranus slept at his own island. He had not come to mine again since he left that piece of paper.

I flew a few meters away, to Uranuses island. I landed in front of his bed. He was there, curled up and sleeping restlessly! My sweet one was as handsome as I remembered!

During one of his abrupt movements, I noticed that, around the area where his treasure used to be, he had tied a cloth. He did not want to see the wound! I teared up thinking of how much physical and emotional pain I had caused to the creature I loved more than anything else in the world.

I had no idea how Uranus had been doing all that time I was away. All that time I stayed on the planet of mortals, I never found the courage to even use my insight to find out what had happened with him, how he felt. Even now, I was trembling thinking of what I might find in his memories if I read his mind. But I had to do it! I had to, at last, find the courage to face the consequences of my actions!

I began reading the mind of the sleeping boy. His nightmarish memories started unfolding before me. During the first years after the previous time I had seen him, Uranus was devastated. He was so sad that he could barely walk. Every time he managed to get some sleep, he would dream that I returned and everything went back to the way it used to be! And he would feel, in his sleep, a joy transient, almost instantaneous! Next, my smiling figure would fade from his dream. And he would desperately cry, 'NO, MOM, DON'T GO.'

And everything would go dark. And he would hear voices. Voices of unknown persons. Voices grim and non synchronized. Voices that all said the same thing: 'Mom will not come back!' And Uranus would wake up in tears. Over time, he just learnt to live with his sorrow. Without ever smiling again!

'Honey… you have suffered so much,' I whispered. And the most staggering of all things I found in his mind was that, all that time, he had never felt a trace of anger or hatred, even though he had every right to do so! He felt only sorrow.

I caressed his head. He started moving again. I panicked and became immaterial. He woke up abruptly. 'Mom?' he cried and got his upper body on his palms.

He looked nervously around. Nothing! I sensed huge disappointment and misery in his sweet heart. His eyes filled with tears. He dropped his upper body back on the bed, bursting into sobs. I could not bear to see him anymore. I left.

For the whole next day, I watched from a distance Uranus dragging his feet aimlessly here and there, without a trace of his old smile. Every now and then, he would have a snack or mess around with some activity.

Meanwhile, every animal that happened to see me, be it a deer or a rabbit or a bird or a squirrel, would excitedly rub itself against me, thus showing me how much it had missed its master. To my child, though, I had not found the courage to show myself yet. Finally, by the set of my planet's magic light, I decided it!

Uranus was lying sideways under a tree, supporting his head with one palm, and idly leafing through a comic book. I gathered all my courage and approached. 'Uranus,' I said, in a low and soft voice in order to alleviate a possible shock as much as possible.

Uranus got on his knees. One would say that his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets! His lips moved, without his voice coming out. It was easy, though, from the movement of his lips, to make out that he said, 'Mom?'

'Yes, honey, this time, it is not a dream,' I said as I paced towards him. 'I think you do realize that, this time, I'm really here!'

I knelt in front of the boy, who was trembling with shock. 'Never again will I leave you alone,' I said and caressed his bangs. 'Never again will I…' Before I could finish that sentence, Uranus fainted!

* * *

When the boy regained consciousness, he found himself lying on my bed. I was sitting next to him and looking at him with an expression of concern. I stroked his hair. 'Mom?' he said weakly. 'Is... is that really you?'

'Yes, honey,' I answered tenderly.

With my other arm, I reached for the cloth that Uranus had tied around his ancient wound. Instinctively, the boy moved away and got on his knees, with his eyes widened. 'Don't be afraid, honey, don't be afraid,' I whispered comfortingly, leaning towards him. 'All your sorrows are over. Mommy shall take care of everything.'

I knelt on the bed, in front of him. With him still having an uncertain expression, I lowered my eyes and, with my sensually beautiful hands, untied the cloth. Uranus moved slightly and unconsciously. 'Relax,' I whispered as sweetly as I could.

I positioned my hand above his wound, opened it and, for a few moments, emitted a golden light down there. By the time I was done, Uranuses treasure had been reborn!

The boy widened his eyes again, more than before, and slightly opened his mouth. He was staring at the area between his legs, astonished.

At that point, I could not control myself anymore. I got down on all fours, with my head lowered, and burst into tears. 'Forgive me, honey,' I sobbed.

Uranus was staring at me, surprised, not knowing how to react. I continued, struggling to take deep breaths: 'I know I have done horrible things to you, but, please, forgive me. I swear I will never harm you again. I will do anything for you to be happy. Anything! I'm begging you, FORGIVE ME!'

I could not talk anymore. My sobs had become uncontrollable. Uranus took hold of me by the shoulders and raised my upper body to the level of his. His innocent, green eyes met my tearful, blue ones. 'Mommy... I've missed you so much,' he said.

We stayed still and looking at each other for a while. Little by little, Uranus teared up as well, except those were tears of joy. He smiled. I shyly reciprocated the smile. He slowly leaned towards me. Our eyes closed and our lips joined.

That night, Uranus did you-know-what to me three times in a row. And, when I say 'in a row', I mean it. Three times without taking his treasure out of mine at all in between! Even when, after the end of the third time, he fell asleep on me with a smile of total felicity, he did not bother taking it out; he slept with his treasure in mine!

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, I gently pushed Uranus aside and, in his sleep, he got off me. I turned sideways, supporting my head with one arm and caressing the sleeping boy with the other. I stayed like that and kept looking at him till he woke up.

When he woke up, it was almost midday! He looked at me. We smiled almost simultaneously. 'Morning,' he said.

'I know you're a snoozer, but I think that, this time, you overdid it a little,' I replied, laughing.

'I needed that,' he replied while, with his eyes closed and a wide smile, changed his lying position into face up and stretched. 'You don't know how long it had been since I last slept really peacefully.'

My face clouded over. I sat up: 'Uranus, I am terribly sorry for everything you went through because of m…'

Before I could finish, Uranus sat up as well and, smiling, placed his index finger on my mouth, thus hushing me. 'Mommy,' he said and, after a pause, continued: 'Don't look back!'

I reciprocated his smile. Uranus jumped off the bed and pulled my arm. 'Come on. Let's go for a walk,' he said, excited.

I laughed. 'How about we go to outer space?' I suggested. 'I've got a surprise for you.'

'Yay, I love surprises,' Uranus bounced.

I laughed again. Without bothering getting off the bed first, I soared into outer space.

'Wait for me, mommy,' Uranus called out and flew behind me.

By the way, as I flew, I sent a telepathic message to Aphrodite for her to return to our planet.

* * *

Along with Uranus, I landed on a barren asteroid, where the planet of immortals was clearly visible from. 'Uranus,' I smiled at him. 'I once promised you that, someday, all mortal creatures that have ever died would be resurrected into ageless bodies.'

My offspring widened his innocent eyes: 'You mean that…'

'Yes, you goose,' I interrupted him, laughing. 'That day has come. Look towards our planet.'

Uranus did so. Before his surprised eyes, the size of the planet of immortals multiplied, becoming equal to that of a giant star! 'With the power of my will, I enlarged our planet so that there is room for everyone,' I explained to my son. 'Just now, everybody has been resurrected. All resurrected animals as well as all resurrected humans who deserve it are now on our planet!'

Uranus was about to bounce in joy, but, suddenly, he stopped and took a troubled expression. 'What do you mean when you say «all humans that deserve it»?' he asked.

My face clouded over as well. I sighed. 'Listen, Uranus,' I started hesitantly. 'There are some humans who are not so good. They have been resurrected too, but they won't be with us. I transported them to a place very different. And they will remain there until they manage to solve the riddle of their heart, as I have solved the riddle of mine! Whoever manages it will be allowed to come to our planet.'

Uranus lowered his eyes. 'And… I suppose that… Cronus is there too,' he said sadly.

'Precisely,' I answered with a heavy heart.

Heavy as the silence that followed. Finally, I approached Uranus, placed my index finger under his chin and raised his head. I smiled at him. 'Come ooon, smile,' I prompted him. 'Someday, Cronus will be back with us. But, first, he must find his true self. It's for his own good!'

Uranus started smiling, tentatively. Eventually, his smile became hearty! He raised his body. 'Wanna race to our planet?' he asked and, without waiting for a response, soared like a rocket.

I laughed and flew behind him.

And now, folks, I and my sweet Uranus are waving you farewell. Au revoir!

**THE END**


End file.
